Little Sister
by DarkElements10
Summary: Katie has always been the guys' little sister. But at sixteen she's not so little anymore. Big Time Rush is bigger than ever, keeping Kendall and the others away from home for long stretches of time. So Katie has to learn how to deal with her problems on her own. It might not have been a good idea to turn to the internet to do it. There's always someone waiting to take advantage.
1. Chapter 1

**Little Sister**

**By: Riley**

**Summary – **Katie has always been the guys' little sister. But at sixteen she's not so little anymore. Big Time Rush is bigger than ever, keeping Kendall and the others away from home for long stretches of time. So she's has to learn how to deal with her problems on her own. It might not have been a good idea to turn to the internet to do it.

***Story warnings: **Rated 'T' for language and sexual themes. Though this level of 'T' inches closer to 'M' at some points. This story focuses mostly on the Knight family but has OCs as well.

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**.:Chapter One:.**

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**_Happy 16th Brithday!_**

_Katherine Apple Knight._

_The Palm Woods._

_You're invited to…_

Fifteen-year-old Katie Knight twisted her mouth to the side as she gazed at the postcard sized invitation that harmlessly rested on her bedspread. All she had to do was put it in an envelope and send it off. Like all the others. Her mom was definitely going to be there (no matter how hard Katie tried to say she didn't need supervision for her sixteenth birthday), her grandparents, both sets, were coming from Virginia and Kansas, her friends were going to be there, Gustavo and Kelly were going to be there, her boyfriend was going to be there, and all four of her brothers were going to be there.

Okay, so Kendall was really her only brother. But he, James, Carlos, and Logan were a package deal. Besides, they were all brothers to her and they wouldn't forgive themselves if they missed her high school graduation. And, she'd begged and pleaded with them to get their mom to not come to the party because she really didn't need a chaperone, and it blew up in her face when they insisted they'd be there to watch over her party instead.

"No, you really don't have to do that," Katie said, shaking her head. She couldn't keep her eyes from growing wide with horror at the mere thought. "I just don't want mom to make a fuss."

"Who's making a fuss?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, we'll make sure it's the best party any girl could have for her sweet sixteen," James agreed.

Carlos nodded and leaned toward her, face growing serious. "What sort of games did you want to play? I know Pin the Tail on the Donkey is out, but everyone likes a good pinata!"

Katie turned her pleading gaze to Kendall, all but getting on her knees, throwing her arms around his waist, and screaming to the heavens that his goofy friends would be worse than her mother because they'd find even worse ways to embarrass her. Just by "helping". Just by being themselves. Just by existing.

Kendall had merely laughed and placed his hand on Katie's shoulder, squeezing it as he said, "I promise your party's going to be fine with or without mom there." Katie glared. He quickly added, "And I'll make sure these guys are on their best behavior. No one's going to embarrass you." He plastered a smile on his face, squeezing Katie to his side. "So long as my baby sister doesn't get any funny ideas."

"What funny ideas?" Katie struggled to free herself form his grasp, planting her hands on his side and pushing with all her might to get away from him.

"We were sixteen once, we know how those parties go," James said. He started to count with his fingers. "Seven Minutes in Heaven, Spin the Bottle, Truth or Dare…"

"Mom banned us from playing Truth or Dare since Carlos was sent to the hospital with food poisoning," Katie pointed out.

Logan sighed, shaking his head as Carlos beamed with pride. "I told you eating everything in the fridge on a dare was a bad idea. Those hot dogs had to have been in there for weeks."

"They tasted fine to me." Carlos patted his stomach for emphasis.

"Going down or coming up?"

Katie groaned as the guys all laughed and exchanged high-fives. Boys. But she couldn't convince any of them not to come. Just about everyone was going to be there.

_Except maybe one person. _Katie twisted her mouth to the side, tapping the invitation against her palm. She tilted her head, studying the address posted on the other side. Not that she didn't have it memorized by that point, she'd read it so much.

There was a knock at her door and Katie scrambled to hide the invitation, whipping back and forth, trying to figure out the best place to stash it that no one else would find. Immediately, she felt silly. What was so incriminating about an invitation if no one knew who it was for?

"Come in!" She sat back just as the door opened. Her mother came into the room with a smile. Katie smiled back as her mother ventured into the room and sat on the end of her daughter's bed. "Hey mom."

"Sweetie, you've been in here for hours now." Mrs. Knight reached out and gently stroked the side of Katie's face. "Is everything okay?" Her eyes searched Katie's face in only the equally calculating and warm way a mother could.

"Yeah." Katie smiled. "Everything's fine."

How could things not be fine?

They were going to be moving into a house, an actual house, in Bel-Air soon. She was acing almost all of her classes at the Palm Woods school. She worked in commercials every chance she got. She had her brother and her mom. She had the boys in Big Time Rush. She had Gustavo and Kelly and (in a way) Griffin. She had great friends and a great boyfriend.

There was nothing for her to complain about.

Almost nothing.

"So what's kept you cooped up for so long?" Mrs. Knight looked down at the envelope sticking out from underneath the pillow Katie had pulled into her lap. "Besides arts and crafts." She waved the envelope back and forth and raised her eyebrows. "I thought I banned you and Kendall from arts and crafts."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Mom, that was _years _ago, get over it."

"You don't just get over clumps of glue and glitter ground into the carpet and sticking all over everything, _including your children _in the _five _seconds it took for you to get a pair of scissors from the kitchen in only a few years."

Oh yeah. That. Katie pretended to think. "I'm pretty sure that was more than five seconds considering it was long enough for me to get my hand glued to Kendall's hair." She started to laugh. "It's too bad he made me burn all of the pictures from before his hair grew back. I have a few things I'd like for Christmas."

Mrs. Knight pursed her lips. Tried not to smile. "I'm not even going to ask."

"That'd be smart, mom. Keeps the rest of your hair from going gray." Katie smiled sweetly at her mother. Mrs. Knight narrowed her eyes and looked closely at her daughter then at the envelope in her hand. They weren't going to have a teasing conversation of how much she dyed her hair. No, her mother knew something was up and it was only so long Katie could keep it quiet. She sighed. "I was just…I was just thinking that…" she reached behind her and pulled the invitation out from beneath her bedcovers. She handed it to her mother, keeping her eyes down. "I was thinking of inviting dad…to my graduation."

"Oh." Mrs. Knight's head jerked back in surprise. Then her eyebrows came together in a 'V', forehead wrinkling.

Katie chewed on her lower lip, waiting for her response. To say something. Anything. Anything other than the long silence that made the sound of her brother and his friends arguing over what channel to watch that much more deafening. Finally, Katie took in a long breath. "Mom…"

"If you want to invite him, sweetie, it's fine. Your father and I are working through our relationship the best we can. And you know we're getting along better now than we ever have."

Katie was close to pointing out that their entire dating relationship and the years before she and Kendall were born were great between the two of them but found it was smarter than she didn't. Her mother was telling the truth, since her sort of ex-husband showed up, they hadn't argued, hadn't yelled at each other as much as they did when their marriage was imploding. There was still a tense silence at times when they were around each other, that awkwardness they couldn't quite get through. The simmering anger of unspoken feelings that were waiting to bubble to the surface.

But at least they could handle pleasant small talk. Sure, there were a few things that were awkward—Kendall still acted aloof and colder than Katie had ever seen when he was around their dad, (when they weren't talking about hockey), and Katie felt like she was betraying her brother somehow as she was still so close to her dad.

"Nothing should keep you from inviting him if you want to," Mrs. Knight continued. Probably reading her mind. She was always good at that.

"I mean, I was just wondering," Katie said quickly. "I haven't really decided yet. To…invite him or not. I was just thinking." She looked away as her mother was silent. She was getting that _look _in her eye again. "Mom, please don't start crying. You cry enough every time the guys leave."

"I know, I just can't help it." Mrs. Knight reached up and wiped away her tears. "It's just hard to see how much you've grown up since we first came out here."

"And to think you were close to wanting to go back home," Katie reminded her. She moved to sit cross-legged. Her eyebrows came together. "They're in a band. They're going on tour. Making a name for themselves—"

"—You mean making money," Mrs. Knight broke in, giving her daughter a knowing smile. "That's the part you care about."

"Not only. I'm just trying to broaden my horizons with different means of career paths I can take. I can't help it if Kendall's doing a big part of the work for me." Katie smiled to herself. She twisted her mouth to the side. "They're been gone longer latterly. It was four straight months this time."

"That's what happens when you're in a band, Katie," Mrs. Knight brushed some of Katie's hair back from her face. A move she would've normally jerked her head out of the way of, but felt nothing but the lasting comfort she didn't know she needed. "The bigger they get, the more they have to tour. The more they have to work."

"Do you think he'll miss my birthday?"

Mrs. Knight held her breath, unsure of how to respond.

It wasn't something they talked about a lot, but something they certainly did need to acknowledge. As much as Kendall managed to keep up a positive façade about Big Time Rush's future, there were still a lot of sacrifices that had to be made. He didn't spend as much time with his family as he'd like, long nights in the studio replaced dinner with the family. Days hanging out with Katie turned into a few minutes to talk in passing, sometimes even just texts throughout the day.

But he still worked hard in everything he did. Worked hard in Big Time Rush, kept up with his classes at the Palm Woods. Planned for the future in case the band didn't work out. Tried to determine if he'd go to college or play hockey in some way. But throughout it all, they didn't talk much about what he'd do if and when he had to finally leave his family. It couldn't be ignored that he needed to decide soon—what his future was to hold. He needed a backup plan, bands didn't last forever. And he was starting to get a bit old for hockey.

In that moment, Katie thought it was stupid idea to even _think _about inviting her father. But things should've been okay.

What could go wrong?

A lot, honestly. But she really did want him there…if everyone else was okay with him being there.

So, later that night, she asked Kendall what he thought. "Can I invite him? Would you mind if he was there?" Held her breath as he waited for his answer. Waited for his reaction. Saw the subtle clenching of his jaw as he moved his finger over the fretboard of his guitar, plucking away at the strings. Almost absentmindedly. It didn't sound like anything she'd herd him play before but didn't sound bad.

Finally, he stopped and dropped his hands to his lap. He looked her in the eye, put on the brave face she was so accustomed to seeing. The "Kendall Knight" face. The everything was going to work out, face. The "I'm about to give a speech" face that seemed to motivate everyone around him. But, instead of a speech, she got a simple, "If he wants to come, sure," as a response along with a shrug of the shoulders.

"But would you be upset if he didn't show?" Katie then pressed. Kendall blinked in surprise. It surprised her, herself. She'd never asked him that before. Always wondered how he'd felt if he _was _there, not how he felt if he _wasn't._

"No," he finally said. "Because I expect him not to be there." Katie sighed heavily. "Look, Katie, I know you love dad. I don't want to take that from you. But I feel the way I feel. If I expect him not to be there and he shows up, cool, it's a surprise. If not then it's exactly what I expected."

"Really?"

"Really."

"You're so full of crap," Katie said with a shake of her head.

Kendall chuckled to himself. "Maybe," he replied and went back to playing the guitar, singing to himself while Katie curled up on the couch and watched, swaying to the melody.

So, Katie didn't feel as guilty as she probably should have when she decided to send the invitation. Kendall said he didn't mind and it wasn't like he could control her. If he didn't show up, fine, but if he did…that was even better.

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**A/N: **Well, I've had this sitting on my computer for much longer than I thought I would. But I've recently gotten back into writing for BTR thanks to some friends on tumblr and decided to give this one a go as my first foray back into it. Not to mention I've had it sitting on my tumblr's 'upcoming projects' section for over a year.

Here's the thing, don't expect this to be updated regularly/'on a schedule' as I do with my Flash and 3 Ninjas stories. Those two fandoms have my utmost attention at the moment while this is something I couldn't let go. Hopefully, if I write this well enough, it won't be as long as my old BTR stories. At the moment I'm thinking 20 chapters max.

But let me know what you think.

**Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	2. Chapter 2

**.:Chapter Two:.**

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"How about this? Do you want this?"

Katie looked over to see the bright blue blouse her best friend was holding up to her. She looked at it, looked to Katie, then turned it in her hands, studying it closely. Katie folded her arms. "Is it for you or me?"

"For you, silly," Lizzie replied without looking up from the blouse.

"Are you sure?"

Blinking, Lizzie lifted her head and settled her blue eyes on Katie's hazel ones. "It's _your _birthday."

"Right. But the way you're looking at that shirt, I'm pretty sure you want to buy it for me so that _you_ can borrow it." Katie grabbed it and haphazardly threw it back onto the rack Lizzie had grabbed it from.

Lizzie looked at her then at the blouse. Her lips formed a pout. "That was made of silk, you know."

"So, what makes you think _I'd _like it?" Katie held out her arms, motioning towards the purple plaid button down, jeans, and sandals she was wearing. Lizzie looked her up and down and sighed quietly. Katie couldn't help but roll her eyes, noting the look on Lizzie's face. If there was anything Lizzie Zevon wasn't, it was subtle. Anything she was feeling—from being the almost embodiment of sunshine to her depressive moments with nothing to do—she felt it and let everyone else know how she was feeling. "Besides, blue isn't my color."

"Well, there has to be _something _you like!" Lizzie threw her hands up, gesturing around the clothing store. At the many, similarly dressed mannequins that wore things that she would never think of wearing. Dresses and skirts weren't quite her thing, not unless she was going to some sort of event or awards show to cheer on her brother and his friends. "We've already been through the entire store."

"Why are you asking me what I want anyway? It's for my birthday. It's supposed to be a _surprise_!"

"Mmm. Yeah. I don't do surprises."

Katie rolled her eyes once more. The last time Lizzie had tried to surprise her, or was supposed to surprise her, had been for Christmas. They were hanging out together at the Palm Woods just before Katie went home for the holidays and Lizzie had been especially wiggly that day. Much more so than usual. Katie barely had to nudge her with the dry comment of, "Okay, Wigglytuff, what's going on?" A joking comment to Katie's love of video games and Lizzie's absolute disinterest in them.

Nevertheless, Lizzie pushed the nickname aside and blurted out. "I got you the best Christmas gift ever! Guess what is it!" And lasted exactly half a second before practically screaming, "It's a charm bracelet!"

Katie had to wiggle a finger in her ear to make sure she hadn't completely lost her hearing _and _to make absolute sure she heard Lizzie right. What was she going to do with a charm bracelet? And yet, it was something she treasured greatly and almost never took off.

How she managed to keep a birthday present even moderately a secret this time was amazing. _Except for the fact that we're looking at every expensive store in existence. _Katie suddenly felt the urge to knock over a mannequin that stood nearby, wearing a blouse that cost even more than her seven-month allowance combined. And Lizzie—who was eyeing the blouse with the same sort of loving admiration Katie would to a stack of hundreds in her hand—could go right along with it.

"I noticed." Katie turned on her heel and started out of the department store and into the body of the mall. Almost immediately, she felt her shoulders tense at the large crowd. How anyone thought shopping could be heaven had to have been crazy. Lizzie looped her arm through Katie's, hugging her close to her side.

"Relax, we'll be out of here soon," Lizzie reminded her. She sighed heavily, a fake sigh if Katie knew her at all. "And I'll just have to leave empty handed with anything for my best friend's sixteenth birthday. And I'll be a failure at gift giving for the rest of my life. Branded. Wondering—"

"—Oh, put a sock in it." Katie couldn't help but fall into giggling laughter along with Lizzie. "You can be such a drama queen sometimes, you know." She waved her hand, showing off the charm bracelet. Lizzie beamed, her eyes shining when she saw it. "Besides, anything you get me I'm sure I'm going to love." She tried not to think about the one thing she'd been perfectly able to _avoid _thinking about all day.

It was why she jumped at the chance to go to the mall with Lizzie. Rather, she'd gotten talked into it, but anything was better than having to deal with Kendall, Logan, Carlos, James, and her mother making such a big _deal _about everything. From the moment she woke up to the time she went to sleep, Katie was badgered with, "What kind of cake do you want?" "Chocolate or Vanilla?" "Do you want to be by the pool or up in the crib?" "What kind of music do you want to listen to?" "What shirt do you think looks better? The red or the blue?"

It was starting to drive her crazy.

Especially with the invitation that continued to burn a hole in her pocket. _Why did you decide to hand deliver it? _Katie thought, pressing her fingertips to her back pocket for the fifth time that day. She could've had it sent out with all the others, but, maybe, hadn't wanted her mom to know the choice she'd made about inviting her dad. And, to keep that to herself, the only way to do so was to hand deliver it.

But then there'd be a bunch of questions; was Kendall okay with it? Was her mom okay with it? Did she think it was a good idea? Was it alright if he just stayed long enough to give her a gift?

Well, the last few were all in Katie's head. She had no idea if he was even going to show at that point. There were too many variables. Too many things to worry about. She wasn't her brother, she was Katie. She was a woman of action who didn't care so much about the consequences so long as she didn't allow herself to get too hurt by them.

"And that's what the day of shopping was for! C'mon Katie, my wallet is burning a hole in my pocket, it's crying for me to spend some. Can't you hear it?" Lizzie waved her purse and pressed it against Katie's head. "_Spend me, spend me, spend me!"_

Katie pushed the purse away from her, effectively shoving Lizzie into a nearby bench where slammed into it with her knees. The two laughed, ignoring the suspicious look mall security sent their way. "Then get whatever you want, Lizz, I don't care."

"That's because nothing makes you happier than money."

"So, get me a gift card."

"But that's no fun." Katie glared at her. Lizzie quickly regained her composure, brushing down her skirt as they continued to mill around the mall. Every now and then people would stare at they'd walk past. However, Katie wasn't sure what they were looking at. Lizzie was stunning, and modeled when she had the chance, all of her social media pages had picture after picture of her smiling for the camera—when she wasn't posting pictures of her friends and the odd picture of her brother, Dak. "Okay, so let's talk party. Are you sure you don't want to have it at my place?"

Katie snorted. _As if mom would let me have a party there. _That'd go over well. Two emancipated teenagers who lived on their own in a penthouse suite hosting a 16th birthday party with money at their disposal Not happening. "I'm sure," she said instead. No need to explain.

Lizzie nodded in understanding. "Fine. The Palm Woods it is." She flipped open her phone, starting to take notes, thumbs moving over her keyboard. "What sort of entertainment is there going to be?"

"I don't know. My mom's planning it." A smile came to Katie's face. It was nice, actually, seeing how excited her mother was getting over the party. Excited over the decorations, asking what Katie wanted at every turn to make sure it was perfect. For once, things were about her, and not about the stupid schemes that her brother and his friends managed to get into all the time. Not that those weren't fun, but _every day? _Katie shrugged. "I guess Kendall and his friends are going to perform something. And, maybe the Jacksons, too."

She ran a hand through her hair, feeling her cheeks suddenly enflame. Tried to keep the thought of her boyfriend out of her head. Knowing she was only seconds away from Lizzie making it even worse, judging by the wide grin that came to her face.

Lizzie elbowed her in the side, digging her elbow into Katie's ribs. "Sooo? Is that your gift?"

"What?" Katie's nose wrinkled. She shot a 'what the hell' look to Lizzie.

"Patrick. Your gift. Is he going to serenade you or something?"

Another face. "No."

"Come on. That's cute!"

"That's gross."

Lizzie sighed wistfully. "I'd like it if Noah sang me something."

Katie snorted. "Noah hardly talks to you."

"Yeah, but he listens when _I _talk." Katie laughed. "And besides, you've seen the girls at your brother's shows. They like being sang to."

"Yeah, and that's why they nearly have a nervous breakdown every time."

"You have no sense of romance."

"And you have no sense of humor." Katie directed them out of the mall and back toward the parking lot. Lizzie went without a fuss, easily falling in line with Katie as they went. Once again, Katie's hand went to her pocket, where invitation sat. She tapped her fingers against it. "Would you invite him?" The words came out before she realized they were on the tip of her tongue.

Just like with Kendall.

It haunted her more than she thought it would.

"I don't know." Lizzie shrugged. "If it were may dad…well…" she shrugged again, tucking her hair behind her ear. "My dad wasn't my dad, he was my manager. So, if I invited him to a party, it'd be more like inviting him to my next collaboration rather than him wanting to see his daughter. So…" She shook her head and gave Katie a encouraging smile. "But you had a good relationship with your dad. Still do, I guess. So…if you want to invite him, then do it! It's your birthday anyway, sweet sixteen! Live it up! Do what you want!"

Katie twisted her mouth to the side. "You know what I _really _want for my birthday?" Katie asked. A grin slowly came to her face when Lizzie shrugged and shook her head, blonde hair flying as she did so. "For something exciting to happen. To me, for once.."

"You don't think meeting Austin Mahone was exciting?"

"Yeah, but the guys were behind that. I mean something _really_ exciting. All my life I've just been Kendall's little sister. I've just been pushed aside for what mom could or couldn't give us, had whispers about me because of who my dad is, and now that Big Time Rush is a thing, everyone is all over Kendall again, and his friends. But, this time, it's going to be about me."

"If it helps." Lizzie slung her arm around Katie's shoulders. "I've always been about you. And I always will be."

Katie sighed, stopping her tracks. "You really want to buy that blue shirt, don't you?"

"_Yes_!" Lizzie continued her forward momentum, making it so that she propelled the two of them around to face the mall once more. Katie followed along with her. "And then, after that, I promise I'll buy you the best gifts a best friend can buy."

"Fine." It was useless, trying to talk her out of it. If she insisted… "But I get to pick it out this time."

"Deal."

They made it back to the store and Katie waited as Lizzie snatched the blouse and practically skipped to the register. Katie whipped out her phone and pulled up her social media accounts. She quickly typed up a message: **_Birthday shopping _**and watched as the comments and likes rolled in. She didn't take it too seriously, all of the interaction on her social media as of late was from people just trying to suck up to her because of who her brother was.

But it was still nice to know there were people out there listening to her.

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**A/N: **Things really start with the next chapter, but I hope you all enjoyed this one.

**Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	3. Chapter 3

**.:Chapter Three:.**

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"So, did you have a good birthday?"

Katie tried not to snort, leaning back into her boyfriend's arms, snuggling against his chest. Patrick pulled down the sleeves of his sweatshirt before wrapping his arms around her waist, gently pushing their hammock back and forth his foot planted on the ground. Katie took a moment before answering, sweeping her gaze over the quiet Palm Woods Pool that had been the venue for her party.

The best party she'd ever had. Not only were all her friends and family there, her classmates from the Palm Woods School, and many Palm Woods residents and employees had been invited as well. Everything she'd ever wanted for a regular fun night was there; a portion of the pool area set aside for poker, roulette, and slot machines (all with poker chips that could be redeemed for candy, food, and prizes), another side had the biggest buffet of her favorite foods, another side had an inflatable obstacle course that included jousting (the part of the party she spent the most time at), and arcade games had been brought in.

Even Bitters had taken a day off from his 'Three Strike Rule' and shouting out warnings to anyone who wanted to make noise to be in a little bit of a good mood for the party. Though his mood had soured when she beat him hand after hand in poker. He faked a smile with each loss, reminding himself that it was her birthday and he wasn't supposed to crush her at her game.

"Oh please," Katie snorted, setting up her large stack of poker chips at her side. "You couldn't even beat me at the slot machines!" She picked up the deck of cards and started to shuffle them, more expertly than a sixteen-year-old girl should be able to. She gave black jack dealers a run for their money. "Now, put up or shut up! I've got my eye on that leather purse hanging on the back of the prize wall!"

The rest of the party was filled with loud music and dancing, bouncing up and down to the beat as she scream-sang the lyrics to her favorite songs at the top of her lungs with her friends. Big Time Rush had performed some music, of course, and the Jacksons had performed some of their more upbeat songs as well. An the pictures; there were two photo booths with different props so not to create a long line, as well as using one wall of the pool as a backdrop for whatever projection the party goers wanted to pose in front of.

The cake…her mom had blown her away with the cake she'd made. Mrs. Knight always insisted on making a cake for Kendall's and Katie's birthdays, would never buy one from the store and would never allow anyone else to make one instead (though the grandmother's constantly insisted) despite her long hours at the diner. Mrs. Knight had kept to tradition, using her free time to make a five layered cake that was so well designed that Katie had suspicions she'd lied and had bought the cake herself.

Katie gave a quick speech, blew out her candles, and quickly surprised her guests by starting a mini-cake fight before Mrs. Knight's loud yell for everyone to calm down—a yell that somehow managed to rival Gustavo's in volume and terror—brought order back to the party.

Things winded down around midnight, with Bitters declaring that the housekeeping staff were done being guests and had to get back to work. As they sat on the hammock, Katie giggled quietly to herself, watching Buddha Bob excitedly cleaning up the confetti and streamers that'd been left behind.

"I had so much fun," Katie declared. "Best day ever! I don't know how anyone's going to top it!"

"Well, you haven't opened your gifts yet, yeah?" Patrick reminded her. "I'm sure something is going to make you feel even better." Without looking at him, she could see the cheeky grin on his face.

"Don't ruin it," Katie declared. She felt her cheeks burn as she blushed. "I'm saving your gift for last."

Patrick tapped her hips with his fingertips before moving an arm to rest behind his head. "You might want to open mine first, I reckon it'd help keep the blokes away from all the other loot you got." Katie finally twisted around to look at him and he shrugged, his smile growing wider. "I already know what my brothers and sisters got you. And you know Lizzie likes to get expensive things."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Katie twisted around so that she could lean into his side. She rested her chin in her hands, watching him, watching his chest rise and fall as he watched her. She smiled, glad her brother wasn't hovering over them as he'd done for most of the party as they tried to dance and spend some time together. Sweet sixteen and she was still the 'baby' sister in his eyes. "Ronan's got you beat, though."

Patrick rolled his eyes. "There's more to life than a candy subscription," he remarked.

Katie's eyes widened, she stared at her boyfriend indignantly. "It's not just a candy subscription, it's a subscription box to _Dylan's Candy Bar!" _Patrick still shrugged, his lips twitching to hold back the smile that worked to break through. "Do you know how much I can re-sell that stuff for?"

Patrick let out a loud bark of laughter. "Somehow, I don't think Ronan got you that subscription to make money off it, sweetheart." He lifted his hand to brush her hair back from her face, lacing his fingers with hers.

Katie smile wider, partially hated herself for doing so, but partially didn't care at how she was able to viscerally reacted to his calling her 'sweetheart'. At the very beginning of their friendship it hadn't meant much other, he called almost every girl—especially fans—'sweetheart', almost as a tic. She hadn't noticed that he didn't say it much around her, seeming to become a deer in headlights whenever it was close to slipping out, until Lizzie said something.

Until James got weirdly protective.

Until everyone had started to act so freaking _weird _about everything and making it all so…so _uncomfortable. _They'd gotten over it, after a lot of stumbles and awkwardness, and miscommunication, and confusion that would make even the best romantic comedy look tame. Now it was something she looked forward to hearing, not that she'd _ever _tell anyone that.

She hadn't changed _that _much since arriving in LA. Though meeting Austin Mahone had made her downright giddy…

"So you had a good time?"

Katie didn't particularly like the change to his tone; from the easygoing, fun loving tone to a more serious, nervous one. "Yes?"

"Even if your dad didn't show?"

Katie sat up to look at him.

He blinked back at her.

She tucked her hair behind her ear, again. "You didn't think was ever going to show, do you?" She asked, voice quiet, taken away by the wind that blew.

Patrick let out a long breath through his nose and shrugged. "It's almost midnight, if he was going to show up, he would have by now. He would have at least _said _something."

Katie looked away, unable to hold back the pain she'd been hiding all day, for even a second longer. Who else but her dad would be able to affect her that easily? Who made her excited when she arrived at his apartment to hand deliver her invitation and gratefully thanked her, promising, promising, _promising _he'd be there and that she'd have a great day. Who else could call her first thing that morning to say happy birthday and say…something came up, but was still able to send a stuffed tiger to the front door of the Palm Woods for her to grab when she woke up?

That wasn't the part that hurt the worse, she realized as the day went on. But that a big part of her expected it, expected to be disappointed, expected him not to show up, and that part managed to singlehandedly crush the hope that she continued to hold onto.

"Sorry," Patrick apologized quickly, noticing her change in demeanor. "I-I'm just saying—"

"—It's fine," Katie interrupted. "I get it." She rolled off him, making him grunt when she planted her hand firmly in his stomach to lean her weight against as she got up. _Serves him right, _she thought, getting to her feet. "I'm kind of tired."

"Okay, I'll walk you back up."

"I think I know how to find my apartment, thanks."

"It's not for you." Patrick reached out his hand and grabbed hers, using his free hand to place against his chest. "It's really dark out, I might get scared."

Katie rolled her eyes and pulled him behind her, walking back towards 2J. They passed through the lobby of the PalmWoods, sneaking quietly by Bitters' desk as he studied his laptop, a deck of cards spread around him, studying a video on poker closely, and went back to her apartment.

"Hey."

Katie turned when Patrick spoke, watching as he leaned his shoulder against the wall by the door. His eyes searched hers. "Are you sure you're okay? I mean…" he liked his lips, tip of his tongue quickly flicking over his lip piercings. "I know you don't want to talk about it, yeah, but—"

"I'm fine," Katie reassured him. She squeezed his hand. "And even if I wasn't, I would be." She shrugged. "It's not like its' the first time, right?" She suddenly blinked hard, feeling a pinch behind her eyes she didn't realize had been there.

He looked at her like he didn't believe her. Then shook his head, his gaze flickering to the ceiling, then back to her face. "You're stronger than most people I know."

"Not everyone appreciates it,"

Patrick chuckled, smiling warmly at her. "I do." His smile turned soft. "I'll see you tomorrow," Patrick said. He pushed himself off the wall, slung his arm around her shoulders, and tipped his head to give her a long kiss. Katie smiled, standing on her tiptoes to grasp the collar of his shirt, kissing him back. Patrick grinned when he pulled back, cheeks flushed, blue eyes dancing merrily. "Happy Birthday."

"Thanks." Katie withdrew her hands from his neck and backed to the door of 2J, using it to keep herself up right, watching him leave. Finally, she ducked back into 2J, quietly closing the door behind her so not to wake up Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James as they lay quietly on the couches, hugging pillows and snoring lightly. It was probably the quietest shed ever see them.

Suddenly, she felt nothing but a solid wave of gratitude toward them and her mother. They'd given her one of the best birthdays she'd ever had, even better than she could've ever imagined in her wildest dreams. Got her some of the best gifts, if she could guess by the size and weight. Katie hated opening gifts in front of other people that weren't money stuffed envelopes. She hated having to try and pretend to like something if she didn't, and if she especially liked something, she didn't like to become too overly emotional.

They'd made good on their promise.

Katie walked over to the kitchen, where her mother had changed back into her sweats, long hair pulled back into a ponytail, and silently drank a cup of coffee, looking over the newspaper. She looked up and smiled when Katie leaned in and pressed a kiss to her mother's cheek. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too, sweetie," Mrs. Knight replied. She brought up a hand, patting Katie's cheek then dropped it once more, resting it on her neck at Katie's show of affection.

Katie then went to the boys and gave each of them a kiss on the cheek and a whispered, "I love you," to each one. She wasn't surprised to find Kendall still awake, staring into space when she approached. He lifted his arm, allowing her to snuggle into his side when he said, "I love you, too, Baby Sister." He rested his arm over her, moving him protectively into his side. "Did you have a good birthday?"

"Is that all I'm going to be asked now?" Katie rolled her eyes.

Kendall chuckled. "It always seemed worse to hear that, after dad left. It was like people were being fake, just trying to see how I was _really _feeling than caring about my birthday." Katie huffed, making Kendall bow his head. "I know, you don't want to hear it. I'm just saying that I really did want you to have a great birthday, not just because of dad, but for you. You only turn sixteen once."

"Yeah, and you only turn sixteen and spend it in the hospital once," Katie said, making the two laugh at the memory of Kendall's birthday, a November birthday, where he and his friends had decided to play an all night hockey game that almost resulted in them getting hyperthermia.

That phone call had been a fun one to get. Waiting at home for the birthday boy to show up for his surprise party—that Carlos, James, and Logan were supposed to use the hockey game as a distraction—only to then scramble around to get to the hospital, all the while wondering if their lives were in danger.

"That was still fun," Kendall said. "I've never seen your stick handling get so good."

"Oh yeah, Wheelchair hockey is the best," Katie agreed. She tucked her head onto Kendall's shoulder. "I had fun. You did a great job."

"You're my sister, I needed to make sure you had a great day," Kendall replied. "Especially since we don't get to see each other so much." Katie nodded quietly. "Hey." Kendall shifted so that he could face her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "No matter what, you and mom are always more important to me. If you ever need me, I'm there, you got it?"

Katie nodded.

"I mean, it Katie."

Katie nodded again, still didn't respond. Because she knew, as much as Kendall promised it, it wasn't so true. When he was 'Kendall Knight of Big Time Rush' only the band mattered. His daily phone calls petered out to once a week, if even that. They texted every now and then, but it wasn't the same as being able to hang out with her big brother. And when she went to visit him on tour, she didn't get to spend too much time with him.

He never turned 'off' always had to be 'on' for any fans or cameras that were around. Sure, they could go to dinner as large group and catch up and talk, all the family members and friends and girlfriends that came to visit. But it didn't leave much one-on-one time for them to hang out. And it was going to start up again, with all the shows Gustavo scheduled Big Time Rush for, more outdoor shows as the weather turned nicer.

"I know." Kendall suddenly broke the mood, sniffing loudly and leaned toward her. Disgusted, Katie pushed his head away from her. "Ugh, what are you doing?"

"Why do you smell like men's cologne?"

Katie didn't have to look at him to know there was a suspicious expression on her brother's face. She'd just turned sixteen years old and he _still _couldn't wrap his head around the fact that, maybe, she liked to kiss her boyfriend as much as any girl her age would. Sitting up, she pushed his head away from her, shoving him hard enough that he nearly fell over and landed on James. "Go to sleep, Kendall."

"Yeah, yeah…" His eyes drifted close.

Katie smiled and ruffled his hair before quietly going to the room she and her mother shared. She closed the door behind her, dropping onto her bed, picking up her laptop as she did so. She scrolled through all her social media channels, responding to messages from her friends back in Minnesota for her birthday, smiling at the throwback photos of when she was younger and at the multiple sleepovers she had with them. It was strange to know how much things changed, and how much of them stayed the same.

She regularly had sleepovers with Lizzie, where they bought strange things they'd seen on TV and tried them out on each other, laughing long into the night over some of the dumbest things. And yet, her friends were different, her clothes were different, her _lifestyle _was different despite feeling like the same old Katie.

_The same old Katie whose dad couldn't even show up. _Katie couldn't keep the thought from her mind, kept herself form looking at his apology text message. _He couldn't even bother to pick up the phone. _Katie went to her Twitter account and typed up a message.

_Best birthday ever. My brother knows what he's doing sometimes. Too bad you can't have it all._

She pressed enter and within seconds she found the number of notifications on her page rack up and up, higher and higher as the seconds passed.

_What happened?_

Katie looked over the message that popped up, the only one that asked what was going on compared to those that scrambled for her attention. How many 'Happy Birthday', 'OMG, have a good one', and 'Happy Birthday, follow me!' messages could she get before people understood she knew they were just looking for a response to collect from her.

It was the only part of being 'famous' she didn't like. Other than those using her to get to her brother, of course. The attention could be addicting at times, when there was anything of substance for her to reply to.

She tapped her fingers against her keyboard, unsure of how to respond. Be honest? Her father stood her up and it hurt more than she wanted to admit? Or lie, that she had a great birthday, and nothing had gone wrong? But the pain bubbled within her more than she anticipated.

It was as if someone else was possession her as she typed back; _I didn't get my birthday wish. _She clicked to the profile name; **_OnTheRegular25 _**and quickly looked around; taking in the past messages about a video game her brothers played, chess, some sports games, and poker**_. _**A little different from other guys she knew; she didn't know many people who liked chess _and _poker. The other stuff, sports, and video games was a daily conversation she heard between guys even on a walk across a studio lot with shouts of 'did you see the game last night' going from one lot to another.

Nevertheless, he did at least ask her how her birthday was. Wasn't pushy about it. Didn't seem to be an overt fan of hers at all which, she determined, set him apart from everything else. It didn't take long for a notification that he responded.

_Sorry. __ I'd make sure you got what you wished for. _Katie rolled her eyes. Of course, she thought. Another suck up. She was about to type back what she really thought of him but stopped when she received another message. _But there's always next year. Just because you didn't get your wish now doesn't mean it won't happen. Give it time._

Her eyebrows furrowed together, somehow, strangely, touched by his sentiment.

At least someone, somewhere out there, wasn't so quick to write off her dad, even if he didn't know what she was talking about. It made her smile a little. She rested her chin in her hand, looking at his profile once more, studied his picture. It didn't show his face, had him standing with his back to the camera, hands up above his head as he stood at the top of a mountain, tiny in comparison to the nature around him. Nothing as flashy as half the selfies and dudebro pics she saw on nearly every other profile online.

_Thanks._

Katie sent the final message, ignoring all the flooding of the "You're so lucky!" comments that attached onto their conversation and logged off. She closed her laptop and set it aside on the floor, curling up in a ball to rest her head on her pillow.

Katie frowned, seeing the stuffed animal her father had given her, sitting on her desk. Lifting her hand, she punched it off the desk, causing it to fly across the room, bouncing off the wall before hitting the floor. With a satisfied smile, she turned her back to the stuffed animal, hugging her pillow to her chest as she fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N:** So, sorry, but you were never meant to actually see her birthday. It was to set certain things up, but her party sounded, awesome, right?! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll update again soon!

**Cheers,**

**-Riles**


	4. Chapter 4

**.:Chapter Four:.**

* * *

"Do you think you can put your phone down for a few minutes?" Mrs. Knight cupped her mug toward herself. "You're always on that thing."

Katie barely looked up as her thumbs flew over the screen of her phone. "You mean you want to have an actual conversation with me? I thought you liked the peace and quiet," she pointed out. "Especially after the guys had a long day at the studio." She finished sending a message and put her phone aside, allowing herself to smile cheekily at her mother. "And what could we possibly have to talk about over breakfast?"

"I don't know…" Mrs. Knight shrugged, turning her gaze toward the ceiling. "The weather."

Katie snorted. She gestured with her arm towards the windows on the other side of the crib. Th windows that overlooked the Palm Woods pool; the outdoor pool that every teen in the Palm Woods constantly hung out around. The same pool that already had shrieking children filled in it as it was bright sunny day. Not any different from any other LA day. "I don't think the weather is going to hold up interesting conversation. And you were the one who got me my cell phone, remember?"

_Got _was probably not the best word. She begged her mother for a cell phone, and was ecstatic when she finally go tone. And then she agreed to sit with Katie-re: gave in to her begging again-when they wanted to camp out for the newest Pear Pad that was releasing at midnight. As much of a daddy's girl that Katie could be, she knew she had her mother wrapped around her finger as well. One shot from her 'puppy dog face', widening her big brown eyes and sticking out her lower lip, and her mom was a goner. Sure, it probably meant doing some more chores around the house or cutting back on her consumption of wrestling and true crime documentaries, but it was a good trade.

Mrs. Knight smiled in response. She lifted her mug to her lips and took a long sip. Katie watched her for a moment, noticing with a start how tired her mother looked. She always had bags under her eyes, which Katie was always quick to point out—to her mother's annoyance—but it was more than that. Wrinkles had appeared around her eyes, and her red hair seemed lifeless. Katie couldn't remember the last time she saw her mother this tired.

Even when she was working to manage the diner for hours on end, often coming back late and leaving early, Katie hadn't seen her so tired. Her mother would sit and listen to everything Kendall and Katie unloaded on her about their day, eat something small, then head to get a few hours of sleep before going back to the diner the next morning. She never complained, she never let her kids know how tired she was becoming.

"Mom, is everything okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Mrs. Knight said quickly. She took another sip of coffee, pushing her mug away from her.

"Mom." Katie looked at her mother pointedly. A light flush came to her mother's cheek as she looked away. Though Katie wasn't sure if it was because of her comment, if the coffee was hot, or if it was something else. She decided it was something else and really wanted to know what it was. "I know when you're lying. You're a terrible liar."

"No, I'm not," Mrs. Knight defended herself. "I just…make sure you guys know so that when I _do _actually lie, you can't tell."

"Yeah, right."

Mrs. Knight lifted an eyebrow. "Do you _really _think I don't know half the things you and Kendall got up to while I was at work? I just let you get away with it." Katie looked at her skeptically. "I know everything."

"Yeah, right."

Mrs. Knight merely smiled in response. A smile Katie had seen enough times before to know it was a smile she should be worried about. Smug. Almost cat-like. The same sort of smile she inherited from her mother. _Probably the only thing, _Katie thought, suddenly studying her mother even closer. Did she get anything form her? Looks wise. Katie always thought she looked like her dad; had his eyes, had his nose, had his chin and jaw. _Thankfully _didn't have his eyebrows, she would tease Kendall about that for the rest of his life. Maybe that was why she wasn't as close to her mom…they didn't have a lot in common, she and her dad always got along better.

_If that's the case, then why didn't he show up to your birthday party when he said he would? When he promised he would?_

Katie pushed the thought away before she could dwell on it too much. Instead, she leapt for her phone as it buzzed with incoming messages. She bypassed the social media posts she was tagged in; posts that random fans tagged of her—taking pictures off her own page and reposting them, as a sort of 'update' account. (How many times had she seen a KatieKnightDaily social media account pop up?). Thankfully, though, because of her brother's fame, and her own increase in the spotlight due to her commercials and guest appearances, the little blue mark of verification made it so that she was able to see posts from specific people rather than being bogged down with multiple mentions to find her friends. She smiled, seeing a small icon of Patrick and Noah making faces at the camera in one shot, and of Dak and Lizzie pushing each other's faces away from each other in another shot.

"Is that Lizzie?" Mrs. Knight asked.

The side of Katie's mouth turned up. "No, Lizzie calls or Facetimes. You know she has to get everything out all at once. All those messages…" She waved her hand. "Plus, she's the only person I know who still texts in chat speak and its too early for me to decipher her messages." She turned her phone to the side to respond to the message that _OnTheRegular25 _had sent her.

_Ambrose just needs to leave. He's overrated and doesn't bring much to the ring anymore._

Katie thought for a moment, then sent back the message: _I'd like to see you do what he does. Step out from behind the computer and meet me at the gym. I'll show you a thing or two!_

He responded almost as fast.

-_And put those new boxing gloves to good use?_

Katie smiled. _I've been practicing a lot. Don't get too cocky._

_-Check._

Katie's smile widened even further at his chess reference, something he tried to sprinkle in every time they had a semi-argument. It had confused her at first, but having looked up chess herself, she was starting to understand some more of the references he threw into conversation and could sometimes throw them back.

She'd been speaking to OnTheRegular—or Regular, as she now found herself mentally referring to—ever since her birthday party a few weeks ago, moving their conversations to private messages so that no one got the wrong idea. Katie almost immediately frowned at that. It sounded wrong. _The wrong idea. _Nothing was going on, it was just a good friendship she had online. People had online friendships all the time. Truth be told, when she first moved to LA, that's how she made friends. Her online poker buddies were people she still talked to. But only about Poker. Regular talked about other things she was interested in.

Things that people in her real life didn't understand. And that was fine. There was nothing wrong with it.

Nevertheless, Katie felt herself become the slightest bit defensive when her mother pressed, asking, "So who are you talking to then?" And found herself saying, "Just someone online." There was no information she needed to give her mother and she didn't want it to go any further than that. However, she noticed the stern look on her mother's face and sighed heavily, leaning back in her seat. "Mom, I know what you're going to say—"

"—What am I going to say then?" Mrs. Knight interrupted. She pushed her mug aside, folding her hands together in front of her. Katie slowly slid down in her seat, knowing what was coming and had no way to stop it.

"That I need to be careful with who I talk to online and what I say," Katie recited what she'd heard her mother say from the moment she got her own computer. She started to count on her fingers. "No giving away personal information, no saying where I live, I can't trust anyone online because they may not be who they say they are. I know, mom. But…that's kind of hard."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. Cause of Kendall and the guys…everyone knows they live at the Palm Woods. They know I'm Kendall's sister. I don't say anything to Regular—"

"—Who?" Her eyebrows pinched together.

"Regular. That's what I call him. His username is OnTheRegular25, but I call him Regular." Katie sat u straight. "He's my age, mom! He lives in New York. It's not like he's going to be showing up at our door anytime soon. I don't tell him where I am and when I post things it's always days after its done, very discreet, or you can't tell where I am at all." She motioned with her hand. "I know how to protect myself, mom. I've been boxing for who knows how long. Dad wouldn't let me not know how to defend myself, remember?"

Mrs. Knight briefly closed her eyes and looked away. Katie knew she was thinking of the times she'd come back from the gym with her father, all of three years old with too large boxing gloves on her hands, gabbing away to her mother about what her dad had taught her and Kendall that day. Now that she remembered it, Mrs. Knight would always give her a quick smile before patting her on the head and sending her away, not long before she'd hear the low murmurings of her parents arguing.

"You always say for me to be careful, mom," Katie insisted. "I'm being careful. I promise." She reached to the side where a gym bag sat by her chair and pulled out a purple boxing glove. "Best gift I could ever get," She added with a smile.

Finally, her mother smiled along with her. "Patrick knows you well," She remarked.

Katie nodded, pleased. Of course, there were other amazing gifts she'd received from her friends and family; clothes, video games, books, accessories for her laptop, a new deck of cards for her poker games, money, jewelry. But it was cool that her boyfriend knew her well enough to know the gift he'd give her; an entirely new set of boxing gloves in her favorite color, was something she'd enjoy and get a lot of use out of. The first day she used them, she managed to make James tremble in fear. And he was the one who worked out at the gym the most out of all of them, often throwing boxing into his own regime.

But Katie still beat him—though she was sure it was because of James's refusal to hurt her. Not that she was complaining, she'd always use other people's underestimations of her to her advantage when she could.

"And you know Freight Train already said I could join the guys' security team if I wanted to," Katie added. She set her boxing glove back down. "I can take care of myself, mom."

"I know you can, honey, but…" Mrs. Knight let out a long sigh through her nose. She trailed off, shook her head, didn't finish the rest of her sentence. Instead, she picked up her mug of coffee, which Katie was sure was now lukewarm, and brought it to her lips to take another sip.

There was a loud slamming sound that made Mrs. Knight scream and jump, sending coffee all over the table. Katie, used to the sound, twisted around as she heard someone coming down the swirly slide, turned to see who was coming out of it. There were only five people she knew who mostly used the swirly slide as the entrance to the crib, let alone continuously kick the door open to make as much noise as possible.

A beaming smile came to her face when she saw Riley Jackson gracefully pull herself to her feet after coming out of the swirly slide. "Hey!" Katie greeted her.

"Hey, Kid," Riley replied, brushing off the seat of her jeans. "Hi, Mama Knight. How ya going?"

Mrs. Knight smiled at Riley, placing a free, dry, hand on her chest. "Oh, you know, just increasing my blood pressure." She motioned toward the half empty mug of coffee and the puddle on the table.

Riley had the grace to smile sheepishly, hurrying into the kitchen to grab a roll of paper towels. "Sorry. I reckon you lot would've been up already. Didn't mean to scare you." She mopped up the puddle on the table, holding a wad of paper towels out to Mrs. Knight to clean up her hand. Then she took the mug and went to the coffee maker, freshly filling it for the older woman.

"Mom's been jumpy practically ever since the boys started to live with us," Katie reminded her friend, pulling out the seat next to her so she could sit. "It was fine when they went home at the end of the night, but I don't think either of us have had a solid day of peace since we came out here."

"From what I know of those blokes, I reckon you're not wrong." Riley passed the mug to Mrs. Knight before dropping into the seat next to Katie, crossing her legs at the knee.

"So what are you doing here?" Katie asked.

A smirk-smile came to Riley's lips. "What do you think?"

Katie smiled back. Riley had been a good friend to her since she moved to LA with her brother and his friends. A big sister figure that Katie'd quickly grown to look up to, always wanting to have another girl around as she'd been stuck with Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James for so long. (Not that she didn't love her brother and his friends, but there were many times she needed someone else to talk to). It was even better when Riley had started to date Kendall, bringing her around even more. But Riley wasn't like the other girlfriends Katie had seen her brother date, she didn't just focus all her attention on Kendall, she paid attention to Katie, too, made sure she didn't feel left out.

_Plus, she makes fun of Kendall as much as I do, _Katie thought. And that was always a plus. But, after a long time of the two best friends slowly falling in love with each other, and some other relationship drama, Katie was glad to see that Kendall and Riley were still going strong. Though, she intuitively knew, it helped that they were in their own bands and understood the pressures of a relationship while being in the limelight.

Katie didn't quite have that luxury.

She sighed in response to Riley's question and asked, "What'd Kendall do this time?"

Riley laughed. "Nothing. I'm taking him to set," she replied. "We're shooting a music video today and he said he wanted to come. Though, I'm sure Gustavo yelled at him and said to get some tips so they wouldn't mess up another music video."

Katie laughed in agreement. Gustavo Rocque hardly let any of the boys take any creative direction on their music videos. The one they made for their _Turd Song _was a testament to that. Then again, they did come up with better ideas than Gustavo's initial idea for their _The City Is Ours _video, which would've resulted in the boys wearing costumes of city buildings as they danced around. No matter how much Gustavo and the boys had managed to become friends and partners in their musical venture, there were many things Gustavo—rightfully, Katie thought—wouldn't let the boy stake the lead on.

"But, hey, Pat said you're not coming," Riley added.

Katie made a face. "No offense, Riles, but music videos are boring." She lifted an eyebrow. "You just lip-sync to the same song for hours on end, changing costumes every few times, and have to start over for every slight thing you do wrong. Besides, I have an audition today."

"I seem to remember a little girl who wanted to go to every music video set to learn everything she could learn, yeah?" Riley teased.

"That was me," Katie admitted. "But that was just so I could be well-rounded. So I can figure out how everything works so I can be the best and most lucrative agent in the industry." She gave a sideways look to her mother out the corner of her eye, noticing how Mrs. Knight was looking at her sternly. "Iiii meaaaan, to further my knowledge of the music industry so I have different options for majors for when I go to college."

Riley laughed.

"Nice lie," Mrs. Knight said. She stood and moved to go to her room. "It was good to see you, Riley. I'm going back to sleep."

Riley looked at her sympathetically. "Long night?"

"You don't know the half of it." Mrs. Knight pressed a kiss to Katie's head then disappeared to her room.

Riley turned a lifted eyebrow to Katie, silently questioning her with her dark blue eyes. Katie held her hands up defensively. "I don't know anything. She's been working like crazy since my birthday, I thought after that things would die down a bit. But…" She shrugged. "She's constantly on her computer and on the phone."

"You think it may have something to do with your dad?"

Katie shrugged again, hating the direction the conversation moved in. Riley was one of the first people outside his family that Kendall talked about his father with. And while Katie knew Riley's stance on their relationship was none of her business, she was pissed that someone could hurt her boyfriend and friend so badly. Nevertheless, she listened patiently when Katie talked about her dad sometimes, about how she missed him and wondered if it was wrong that she did, and didn't judge.

_Kind of like Regular, _Katie thought, twisting her phone in her hands. She didn't tell him anything about her dad, didn't go so far into explaining why her birthday was so bad in the days after their first conversation. But mentioned that there were things in her life she wasn't happy about.

And Regular had reassured her that it was normal. _If everyone was happy with everything in their lives, people would be a lot more peaceful. It's like people who say they love their jobs. There has to be something about it they don't__ like. Weird._

Katie had laughed at that. She'd always had the same thoughts. She loved acting, doing commercials and small bit parts. But she didn't exactly like how fake it was, how the cast members of some shows they worked on said they were one big family in the press but hardly spoke to each other outside of their scenes together. She didn't like how commercial directors said they thought she was doing great, but then could cut her scenes down to just her smiling in the background if needed.

The pay was great, always great. The sudden influx of attention…not so much. But fame had a price to pay and Katie was always about the money. As it was her income—her _college fund_—had seen a healthy increase in the last couple of months.

"Not everything had to do with dad," Katie said firmly. "And, before you ask, I'm not mad he didn't show up. He called me later. Something came up." It wasn't a lie. He did call a few days later, something did some up with his job. He was a lawyer. She understood. They were going to hang out that weekend.

Riley held up her hand. "Whatever you say, Kid. I'm just glad you had a good time." She looked over as the door to the crib opened and Kendall came inside, dropping his hockey bag and skates to the ground. "Hey, Hockey-Head."

"Hey!" Kendall's eyes lit up, seeing his girlfriend. He went over to her, leaned over and gave her a kiss in greeting. Then he gave Katie a kiss on the side of the head. Katie leaned back out of the way, frowning. Why was everyone doing that to her, suddenly? She was sixteen! Not a kid anymore. "Hey, Baby Sister."

The nickname Kendall forever called her made her frown even more. Baby. She _wasn't _a baby. "You're late," Katie said in response.

"I know, but I needed to get one last practice in. As soon as we get on tour, I'm not going to be able to play hockey in a while," Kendall said, placing a hand on his hip, the other resting on the back of Riley's chair.

The sudden stench of sweat filled Katie's nose. She gagged, leaning away from her brother, waving a hand in front of her face. "Ugh, if it keeps you from smelling like that, then I'm glad!"

Kendall faked a pout. "Sounds like you're trying to get rid of me."

"Well, I can't miss you until you're gone."

"Okay. I get it. I'll bring you some good souvenirs from every place we go" Kendall paused when he noticed the pointed look Katie shot him. "And get you some business contacts while I'm there, okay? Happy?"

"Yep!" Katie grinned. "Thanks!"

"Don't say I don't do anything for you." Kendall leaned in to give Riley a kiss on the cheek, frowning when she leaned far away from him. "I don't smell _that _bad."

"Like hell you don't," Riley replied, eyeing him warily. "Believe me, I love the smell of a guy who's been working out. But you fucking stink."

"Don't hold back, Riles, tell me how you really feel," Kendall said sarcastically. He pushed himself away and headed toward the bathroom.

"You need to work on your stickhandling some more."

"You're not funny."

Riley winked at Katie as she said, "I'm hysterical!" in response.

Katie giggled quietly to herself. She grabbed her phone once more as it buzzed. Regular had messaged her again. She opened it, eyebrows coming together as she read the message.

-_Good luck with your audition today._

How did he know that?

* * *

**A/N: **Wow, things are starting to get tense between Katie and her mother despite their closeness. And I'm not going crazy, right? There was an episode of BTR where Katie and Mrs. Knight camped out for the Pear Pad? I'm pretty sure it was Big Time Camping (duh), but I couldn't remember the gadgets' name and the pear pad was the first thing I thought of, though that could've been from Victorious.

I'll update again soon!

**Cheers,**

**-Riley**


	5. Chapter 5

**.:Chapter Five:.**

* * *

Okay, it was simple. Katie had mentioned earlier in the week that she was going on an audition. She'd forgotten she'd posted it to her ScuttleButter account. Had even forgotten that she put up the photo of her and Lizzie with their arms around each other, sticking their tongues out at the camera as a way to signify she was going on the audition. Which, in retrospect, made no sense.

That was the weird part. That she went back and cared so much about what the picture was supposed to be saying. Who cared if her captions didn't always line up to what was going on? Not her. She never cared. Lizzie tried to get her to care, ran her through a 'crash course boot camp' of honing her social media following to…

"To do what?" Katie had asked with a teasing smile. They'd had that conversation how many times before? Where Lizzie said she really needed to make sure there were more than two pictures she'd put up a day or she'd lose any followers that would gain any traction to her online presence, her fan base, blah blah blah.

Honestly, she knew Lizzie was right. She'd watched her brothers and their accounts enough to know there were general upticks in comments and likes when there were multiple pictures posted a day. And, of course, depending on the kind of picture, it made the accounts gain and lose followers. Pictures of the boys goofing off on set, at a concert, in the crib, in life in general? Thousands upon thousands of likes. Pictures of any of them with their girlfriends, or even a hint to their girlfriends, and there were half as many comments or likes, and the ones that did show up seemed to be trying to win the contest of being the most disgusting people in life.

But what did truly matter? She asked, scrolling through her phone as she sat in the waiting area of the audition office. Why she decided to let her mother drop off her and only have a bus to take her back, she had no idea. The audition was easy. A little too easy. Not that she was ever truly worried about it; acting was a means to make money while she moved through life to do what she really wanted. It was a good balance of getting along with the directors and the casting agent and showing her own personality.

A real one rather than the painted-on ones, like the painted-on smiles, that she saw on all those other kids who'd been auditioning for who knew how long. The ones that acted like they knew how to win that game and could move forward better than her.

Nevertheless, it had worried her for a minute while she tried to figure out how Regular had known. Made her worry for the briefest of moments. But she shook that worry away, taking a picture of herself in the waiting room before posting it. Saw the comments come in. She read a few of them, her eyes scanning the photo for anything that may be off in the background then looked down to the comments.

There were a lot of the ones she knew was going to come within the first few seconds. The speed of the notifications didn't surprise her. (It threw her for a loop when James explained that she probably had a lot of fans that marked to get notifications from her account, to be specifically notified if she ever posted anything. Who wanted to do that)? Some were in other languages she couldn't read, some that she knew enough from when traveling with Kendall and the boys that she could, but nothing interesting.

_So cute!_

_Pretty!_

_Gorgeous!_

_(Heart)(Heart)(Heart)(Heart)(Heart)_

_Beautiful_

_Your perfect_

The same, the same, the same. Lizzie always squealed about some of the more heartfelt comments. Even Kendall and the boys could find their entire days made from that _one _comment. Hell, Kendall had gotten them all mixed up in some sort of a spy-movie like plot all because he wanted to keep a girly backpack from a fan.

_How was the audition?_

Katie smiled, immediately seeing Regular's name come up in her comments. Her heart picked up a little. A nervous flutter. She lifted her hand to swipe her hair off her forehead, thought for a moment before typing back. _"I can't say much, but I think it went really well! Try and stop me now!"_

_"First, LA, next stop the world."_

_"Mwahahaha."_

She threw in a few devil emojis for added measure before answering a few more comments, continually moving back to talk to Regular, shifting to private messages as they did so. She was so engrossed with her phone that she didn't notice Kendall standing in front of her, watching her for a few minutes. Not until there was a lull in the conversation did she look up, swinging her hair out of her face. Only to jump when she saw her brother standing in front of her, looking at her with the tiniest of smiles.

"What the hell?" Katie spluttered, heart thudding against her chest, stronger than ever before. Almost as if she were caught doing something wrong. Guilty over…nothing. "How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough for me to worry that you're starting to become addicted to your phone," Kendall replied with a half-smile. "First an addiction to money, an addiction to winning, and now to your phone." He brought his hand to his chin, pretending to think. Raised an eyebrow. "Who are you and what have you done to my little sister?"

"Ha ha." Katie rolled her eyes and stood. "What are you doing here?"

"Mom called. Said she needed you to be picked up from your audition."

Katie frowned. Her mom called and said she needed to be picked up? _What about taking the bus? _Katie had her answer the moment the question crossed her mind. It was as evident as the first few days they arrived in LA. Mrs. Knight still didn't' really trust people in LA. She was so convinced that Bhudda Bob was a deranged killer and that Molly was a sweet innocent girl. But there was something to be said about some of the crazies they'd run into over the years. _Let alone the ones I live with, _Katie thought with a wry smile.

"I was going to take the bus," Katie replied.

"Like I'd like my Baby Sister take the bus by herself."

Katie's frown deepened.

Baby Sister.

There it was again. It was a nice nickname by her brother when she was younger. When she followed everything, he did. When he sang her to sleep. Now it was starting to grate on her nerves more than she'd like to admit. Something twinged in the back of her mind every time she heard it. It wasn't hard to figure out, it was annoyance, frustration, disbelief. Yeah, she was his baby sister, but she wasn't a _baby_. She didn't need him to take care of her like she used to. Didn't need him to hold her hand and walk her through her problems.

If anything, she always walked him through his. When she helped him decide who his heart wanted to be with when Jo and Lucy gave him an ultimatum when Jo came back from New Zealand. When she had to help hook him up with Jo in the first place. When he used her as a human shield when that reality show came to the Palm Woods. And yet, she was the one who was looked at like she needed protection all the time.

Her ability to knock holes into the punching bags at the Palm Woods gym proved everyone wrong. But it always made her look 'cute' rather than threatening. (Except for that one guy she managed to knock out with a quick hit to the sternum. He always moved out of her way when they were in the gym at the same time).

Katie stood, brushing off her frustration. "How was the video shoot?" She walked with him out of the building and to the parking lot in the back where he'd parked the Big Time Rush Mobile. How he and his friends managed to share a car without arguing, she wasn't sure. They'd always been attached at the hip that way. Part of her was jealous, if she were honest.

Kendall had met Logan, Carlos, and James and it was like everything fell into place, no matter what was thrown their way. Kendall's dad left their family? So did James', they could bond over that. Logan was picked on at school by bullies for being so smart? Carlos was picked on because he was so cooky and out there. They could bond over that while Kendall and James defended them. Kendall grew up with one parent who tried hard to keep a normal life for their child? So did Logan, they could bond over that. James had an overbearing mother who practically ruled his life? The others were a sanctuary for him to break away from that rigid structure and try to live out his dream.

And what did Katie have? She had friends back in Minnesota that she hung out with, but friends she couldn't quite relate to. If it weren't for field hockey—which she ultimately got banned from for playing too hard—or classmates, they wouldn't have been friends. They didn't talk to each other since Katie left for LA. Out of sight, out of mind. Their promises to call, write, text, and not forget each other were lies easily used to reassure each other. But there was no basis in it.

Katie only felt that she had her people when the boys were around. They were her family as much as they were Kendall's, and would protect her when she needed it. But they weren't _her _friends. She did have Lizzie, Patrick, and Noah, the first people she met and friends she'd made when moving to LA, but…they were still better friends with each other. Sure, Lizzie would drop everything for Katie and help hero out when needed…but nothing could beat her love of dance, love of surf, some more solitary activities that Katie couldn't quite relate to. Plus, she still at least had one parent who loved her and stuck around, while Lizzie and Dak emancipated themselves the year before.

"Did it not go well?"

"What?" Katie lifted her chin as they made it to the car, hand pressed against the handle. Her eyebrows came together as she looked at her brother, noticing how intently he was staring at her. She shook her head. "Did what not go well?"

"The audition," Kendall insisted. "You're being kind of quiet. I just thought, maybe, it didn't work out. Or it wasn't something that you thought it would be…" He coughed, suddenly appearing uncomfortable. "Or something had happened… with the director…"

Katie immediately clocked onto what Kendall was not quite saying and rolled her eyes. "Right, I let some sort of creepy perv talk me into doing a sick fantasy audition."

He held up his hands defensively, before unlocking the doors and allowed the two to get into the car. Katie dropped heavily into the passenger seat and clicked the seatbelt into place, pulling her phone out once more. "I'm not saying you would, Katie, I'm just saying you need to be careful."

"I know, Kendall."

"And it's not something to take lightly. Mom and I already don't like that you're going to auditions alone."

"Kendall, I know!" Katie snapped. She shook her head. "God, you're being worse than mom. I can take care of myself, I'm not so stupid to let myself be talked into something I don't want to do because of false promises and being the 'next big thing'." She used air quotes around the words. "Only people desperate for fame do that and I'm not desperate. It's not what I want to do for the rest of my life, I'm just getting some money together."

"Right," Kendall agreed. The side of his face turned up in a smile. "For your college fund." Katie couldn't' help but allow herself to giggle. Kendall smiled in response. "You know I worry about you because—"

"—Because I'm your little sister, because I'm a girl, because you're leaving?" Katie waved a hand in the air, listing off everything. "Take your pick."

"You're acting like it's a bad thing," Kendall remarked. "What's so wrong about caring about my little sister when I'm out on tour. About caring about my mom and sister when I'm not there to help them."

"You're not worried about us when you're gone, you're worried that dad's going to move back in on your territory," Katie replied. Kendall twisted his mouth to the side but didn't reply. "I know you don't get along, but I do. Why won't you let me see if there's anything there I can have. I'm not saying you guys have to be friends or even see each other."

"I'm not…" Kendall trailed off. He reached up, rubbing at the space between his forehead. "Look, I don't want to fight during my last few days here for a while."

"Neither do I," Katie agreed. They didn't fight. Not really. They disagreed, they shared their opinions, but never really fought. Just another thing their father seemed to ruin. She lifted her chin and looked out the window, realizing, suddenly that they were heading away from the city and toward the country. "Where are we going?"

Kendall grinned. "You'll see," he replied.

And she did see, practically leaping out of the car with excitement when she realized as they got closer, that he was taking her horseback riding. She hadn't gone in a while, her previous birthday, and Christmas, he and their mom had paid for new riding gear and some riding lessons for her. Something she'd stopped doing since arriving in LA. It was a little too difficult to get there from LA, too much traffic, too little time, especially with his band taking up so much of his time.

Katie practically flung herself out of the car when Kendall pulled to a stop in the parking lot. She hurried around to the receptionist's area and stood aside while Kendall explained who they were and that he'd paid for a few hours of riding. Finally, they were led to the stables, picked out a few horses, and with a guide, was led out onto a nearby trail.

"So, don't leave me in suspense, did it go well?" Kendall asked when they reached the end of the trail. Let the horses graze around before taking them back down the lengthy trail to the farm. Katie pretended she didn't know what he was talking about. "Come on, I know you nailed it. You always do well at your auditions."

"Just because I did well doesn't mean I got it," Katie reminded him. That was the point; Hollywood was about looks. She could be the best in the room but if she didn't _look _the part…well, that was always the pitfall of Hollywood. It could make even the most levelheaded people start to worry that they weren't enough. If anything, she just didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Come on, Katie. They'd be crazy not to want you," Kendall pointed out, shifting awkwardly in his saddle. Katie laughed to herself. Kendall never particularly liked horses, always preferred to be on skates and trust himself rather than trust animals.

"I know," Katie agreed. "But it's not up to me."

"So, what happens if you _do _get it?"

"Well, it's for a small, recurring role in a TV show," Katie said. Already feeling her excitement bubbling up as she spoke about it. She didn't like to get excited about things like that, not wanting to jinx it before she knew for sure. Kendall did to laps and dragged his fingers across the ice, Katie pretended her auditions didn't exist. .Everyone had their good luck charms. "So, if I get the part, I'll do the episodes. And if they like me, they make take me on for even more. It depends on how audiences like my character."

"Don't you mean the director?"

"Come on, Kendall." Katie rolled her eyes at her brother's naivete. He'd been in the music industry for how long? "You know your band wouldn't be anywhere without your fans. You say it to them all the time. It's the same thing for shoes and movies. If the fans like it…they have the power." She shrugged. "They can make or break your career overnight."

"I don't care what anyone else says," Kendall said with a shake of his head. "But if you don't end up ruling the world, you've missed out on a very good opportunity."

Katie grinned. "First LA, tomorrow the world."

Kendall laughed.


	6. Chapter 6

**.:Chapter Six:.**

* * *

Katie sighed heavily, wrapping her arms around her knees. "Do you _really _have to go?"

Kendall chuckled lightly, pressing his hands to his hips. "Yes, I really have to go." He motioned toward her. "And I don't think you sitting on my suitcase is really going to keep me from leaving. Because I can easily move you."

"You can try," Katie warned as he got closer to her. Kendall made a show of pushing up the sleeves of the hockey jersey he was wearing and showed off his muscles. (Water pistols, as James would've called it before the boys inevitably got into a competition of who had the bigger muscles. She'd never say it out loud, but James was the most in shape out of them). Then he moved forward, ready to lift her off the suitcase in one fell swoop. He paused when Katie lifted a finger and added, "But I'll scream."

Her words immediately made Kendall pause, making Katie giggle. Kendall thought for a moment, trying to figure out if it was worth it. Katie smirked to herself, seeing the trepidation play out on his face. How many times had he been tasked to babysit her where he ended up tied up to a chair with a sock in his mouth along with the rest of his friends, when they tried to tell her what to do. The sad part of it was, and it was the point that made Kendall hesitate in ever trying to tell her what to do, she was four at the time. And managed to take down four boys who would've been more than enough to keep her from doing anything dangerous.

It was easy to do once she had taken down Carlos and Logan. They were the weakest links, the ones that you could take down simply by tickling them—Carlos and grabbing them by the ear—Logan. James and Kendall were a little bit harder. She had to wear them down with a long game of hide and seek that had them screaming in fear and anxiety from how well she hid and jumped out at them. Wrapping them up in rope after that was easy, they were already clinging together, screaming in fear.

The rest of that night had been fun—she played the video games her mom banned her from playing, and it was the same night she first learned how to play poker, of which their mom got on Kendall about later. Since then, they'd been hesitant to babysit her and rightfully so, she could take care of herself.

But that didn't mean she always wanted to.

"I get the picture," Kendall replied. He held up his hands and took a step back. "But I still need my suitcase."

"Did a fan give it to you this time?" Katie rolled to her feet, following Kendall out of his bedroom as he walked it to the front door where James, Carlos, and Logan were waiting, Mrs. Knight going over a list of things they needed and the Jacksons were helping out. "Are you going to end up doing another spy mission while you're gone?" She smiled teasingly at her brother. "Am I going to be a princess again?"

Kendall gave her a funny look. "Do you remember that you were kidnapped? You _do _remember you were kidnapped, don't you?"

"Who cares? I was a princess!"

"Not a real one."

"Not yet anyway," Riley remarked with a cheeky smile. "Just wait for the day that someone finds an uninhabited country and she'll be the first in line for royalty."

Sydney made a face, looking up from the pile of clothes that Carlos had stuffed into his bag. "If it was uninhabited, it wouldn't be a country," he pointed out.

"We didn't ask for your input, Syd," Rhuben pointed out. She laughed when Carlos lifted his foot and started to stamp on the pile of clothes, working to fit everything into the suitcase while Mrs. Knight looked on, shaking her head.

"I know, I gave it away for free."

"So?" Patrick asked.

Katie blinked back at him, not realizing that he'd moved to her side. "So, what?" she asked, distracted by James weighing two different combs in his hands, trying to figure out which one to pack. All the while Logan crammed his own bag with book after book, his zipper bursting at the seams. _Idiots._

He quirked an eyebrow. "The audition?" He pressed. "How'd it go? You were talking about it forever, now it's like you've completely forgotten about it." He pressed a finger to her forehead, gently pushing her head back. Katie lifted her gaze to the ceiling, moving his hand away from her, catching a whiff of sea salt as she did so. Katie rolled her eyes, silently letting him know of her thoughts on his obsession with the beach, that he responded with a light smirk.

"Oh. That." Katie waved her hand. "I haven't heard anything yet. But that's alright, I have some other ones I'm going to do as well." But she couldn't stop the wave of frustration wash over her. It'd been days, why hadn't she heard anything back yet? Regular had said she needed to be patient, but she and patience didn't mix.

"Well, don't worry about it." Patrick threw his arm around her shoulder and pressed a kiss to the side of her head, making Katie smile. "If you don't get it, they don't know what they're missing." He thought for a moment then added, "I guess I should cancel those 'congratulations' flowers then, yeah?"

Katie beamed up at him. "You got me flowers?"

"Well…not yet," Patrick replied after a moment. He gave a sheepish smile. "They're not supposed to get to you until we know if you got the part." His eyes shifted. "Is that stupid?"

"And who said romance was dead?" Kendall asked. Katie looked at Patrick and the two rolled their eyes. As it seemed that the rest of Big Time Rush and the Jacksons did. Not only was Kendall the one that was the most romantic of them all—that was evident from every girlfriend he'd had—but seemed to make a point of it, considering the teddy bear that that Riley held tightly in her hands that he'd given her when she first arrived.

"'Not I', said the little red hen," Riley sing-songed, wiggling her bear back and forth.

"'Shut up', said the little yellow duck," Patrick shot back flatly. His shifted his gaze toward Kendall, and Katie noticed a flash of worry move over Patrick's face, making her sigh.

_Why does he have to be so protective all the time? _Katie thought. Here he was, about to leave, and he still managed to play the 'protective big brother' role. As if she couldn't take care of herself.

Patrick cleared his throat and nudged Katie on the arm then grabbed her hand, pulling her toward her bedroom. "Come on."

Katie looked toward her brother and his friends, to her bedroom, then back to her friends. She had a feeling she knew what Patrick was after—the thought alone made her blush and her inside turn to molten lava, nevertheless, she hesitated. "But I wanted to—"

"—Believe me, he's not going to leave without saying goodbye to you," Patrick interrupted with a light eyeroll. "He's got an entire legion of people to say goodbye to…" he bobbed his head back and forth. "Probably needs to pry a crying Carlos off his neck, and then the bloke will say 'bye', yeah? He'll save you for last." Katie didn't, really, have a mean bone in her body, but couldn't help the disappointed pout that came to her face when she knew that wasn't going to be true. His girlfriend would be the last one Kendall would say 'goodbye' to, spend the most time with. It'd always been his M.O. "Trust me, Katie, no one is more important in your brother's life than you."

"You sure about that?"

"Too right."

Katie folded her arms. "How?"

"Because, as a brother, no one is more important in my life than my brothers and sisters."

Katie's eyebrows came together. On one hand, she understood the sentiment. Had the same thought, Kendall was important to her. But over the course of the relationship she did have with Patrick, even being able to say that he was her boyfriend—something she'd _never _thought she'd be able to do, and rolled her eyes at the girls that did it after a few weeks—he had started to move up in her line of people she cared about.

Was that not the same for him?

Wasn't that the point of being in a relationship? That when you found the person you wanted to be with, that they were the ones who became their family? Started their own 'nuclear family' where they were, then, the ones that were supposed to be the most important.

_It's not like we're getting married, _Katie reminded herself. They were much too young for that, she didn't even think about the next year in terms of whether or not they'd still be together. Nevertheless, the thought still bugged her. Because as long as she could remember, she'd always been the second choice.

The least favorite.

Kendall was always the one who got everyone's attention. He was outgoing, he was smart, he was funny, he had everyone flocking around him. And she was always the afterthought. Sure, people paid her attention when she was a baby, when she was a toddler, but as they got older, they always moved their attention to the 'hockey phenom' who was 'just like his dad'. So she was stuck going to all his practices, all his games, stuck having to sit in the corner booth of her mother's diner because babysitters wouldn't want to stay with her.

Even when she had her friends back in Minnesota, they usually hung out with each other than with her. It wasn't _her _fault that she found their constant trips to the mall and wanting to read magazines boring. Then she'd moved to LA and had become friends with Tyler…who moved away shortly after that. Then she met Lizzie and she had someone who was a great friend…and everyone still wanted to hang out with her more.

And why not? Lizzie was tall, pretty, blonde, outgoing, funny, smart…a little bit of a ditz, her parents had sheltered her enough, and with all the 'yes men' around, it wasn't hard to realize she, eventually, wouldn't know how to run even the simplest of machines like a dish washer. People found it endearing.

But then she'd started to go out with Patrick and with every fumble that they worked through for their respective first relationship, he made her feel that she was the only thing in the room. So, how did he manage to knock down all her walls like dominoes and make her insecurities leak everywhere within seconds?

"What?" Patrick's eyes crinkled, sensing something was off. "What'd I say?"

"Nothing," Katie replied.

"No, seriously. I mucked up somewhere." He gestured with his hand. "Obviously."

Katie felt her temper flare. He, sometimes, could be very stupid. A lot of the time he played it off to be funny. She liked his sense of humor, it was what attracted her to him in the first place. Looks aside. But that was extra stupid. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What?"

"'Obviously.'" Katie used air quotes around the words. "That you 'obviously' messed up."

"Nothing. I mean, you're looking at me like my neck just blew a bloody bubble." He tipped his head, looking more confused than she'd ever seen him before. If not annoyed. "I just answered your question. Kendall's going to say bye to you, you're important to him—"

"—But I'm not important to you?"

A low grunt escaped Patrick's lips. He clenched his hands at his sides. "I didn't say that!"

"That's what it sounded like."

"Are you kidding?"

Katie folded her arms over her chest while Patrick gaped at her. She felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. Immediately, despite the tension burgeoning between her and Patrick, excitement shot through Katie. What if that was Regular, responding to her last message? Her hand twitched, moving on its own to check.

Patrick noticed it and his upper lip cured into a frustrated sneer. Hurt flashed through his eyes. "Why don't you check that, then?" He asked. "Maybe you'll find someone who's important enough for you." He backed away from her. "Who's not your second choice." He left the crib, slamming the door behind him.

Noah sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'll see how he's doing," he said. Then she turned to Kendall, James, Carlos, and Logan parting fist-bumps. "Let us know when you get there, yeah? We need to make sure Gustavo's screaming doesn't blow up the bus on the way." He waved goodbye to Mrs. Knight and Katie then slipped out of the crib, going after his brother.

Katie sighed heavily, shifting her attention back to the boys as they lined up to say goodbye to her and her mom. She hated Patrick leaving on a sour note like that, but also hated that the boys were leaving. What was she going to do while they were gone? Who was she going to talk to about her boy problems now that they were leaving?

"Bye, Big Brother," Katie said, when he reached her. She wrapped her arms around him, tucking her head under his chin.

"Bye, Baby Sister. Try to stay out of trouble, okay?" Kendall wrapped his arms around her, squeezed her tightly, gently rocked her back and forth.

Katie started to respond, started to ask what sort of trouble she could get into, but found herself swallowing a hard lump in her throat when she did so. She closed her mouth and snuggled into him even harder. As goofy as he could be, as annoying, as hardheaded, as much of a troublemaker he could be—and that clearly was passed onto her—she was going to miss him more than she thought. A tour was exciting, promoting a best-selling album was even better, but it was hard having to always say goodbye when she was being left behind.

"I'm going to miss you," Katie murmured.

Normally, she wouldn't have said it. Normally, she would have made a sarcastic comment about him not leaving soon enough and couldn't wait for him to be gone. But, she was already stuck in her emotions over the confusion and stupid argument with her boyfriend. She probably lost him and was now losing her brother on top of it.

"I'll miss you, too. Look after mom, okay?"

Katie nodded, gave her brother one last squeeze and stepped back. She lowered her head, keeping her gaze away from him, knowing if she looked at him, then she'd start to cry. As much as she tried to be thought, it was never easy to constantly have to say goodbye to Kendall. And from the way he pressed a kiss to the top of her head and squeezed her once more, it was just as hard for him.

"Bye, mom." Kendall leaned over and gave his mother a kiss before sweeping out the door with his bags. The door closed with a click and the atmosphere of the crib immediately changed. The boys weren't around, there wasn't any laughter, loud music, there wasn't any hairbrained schemes that they were coming up with to handle whatever problem they had that Katie inevitably had to help with.

Feeling tears come to her eyes, Katie went to her room, mumbling a "I don't want to talk about it," to her mother as she passed, and flopped onto her bead. She pulled her phone from her pocket and pulled up Regular's message.

_The guys are leaving today, right? Are you doing okay?_

Katie smiled gratefully, bringing up her hand to wipe away the tears that threatened to fall. She sniffed loudly, working hard to keep herself calm. She didn't need to cry; her brother was constantly leaving. Even when he was playing hockey he was constantly going to tournaments and away games. But she used to go to those games, used to go on those tours, used to have someone there.

She typed back quickly. _I'm fine, I guess._

_You don't sound so sure._

Katie blew out a breath so hard that it moved her hair off her forehead. _I got into a stupid fight with my boyfriend. _He responded quickly, making her smile. He was waiting for her to respond; she had his full attention.

_What'd you fight about?_

Katie explained everything that had gone on in their fight, thumbs moving quickly over her phone as she poured her heart out to one of the only people who'd listen. _I don't know…it was stupid. We fight sometimes, but I don't really know what to do after. He's my first boyfriend, so its weird sometimes._

_If I was your boyfriend, I'd treat you the way you deserve to be treated. Like the most important thing in the world._

Katie smiled. She felt her cheeks heat up as she ran a hand through her hair. It wasn't like she hadn't heard that before, her mother had said it many times. She and Kendall were the most important things in the world to her. Her father had even said it at one point—of which Kendall would quickly snort and deny that it had even happened (or go on a rant of how his actions proved him wrong).

But she'd never heard it from a boy before.

And had never heard it, knowing he was being sincere.

It was nice.

* * *

**A/N:** Poor Katie, she tires really hard to be so tough, to be so independent. But she really doesn't like being left behind, does she? Anyway, I hope you liked the update and I'll update again soon!

**Cheers,**

**-Riles**


	7. Chapter 7

**.:Chapter Seven:.**

* * *

"He's gone for a few days and you come see me already," Kevin remarked with a teasing smile pointed toward his daughter. He opened the dishwasher, starting to put away the dishes that'd been piling up. "Should I be flattered or annoyed?"

Katie rolled her eyes in response, pushing aside the bowl of chips and salsa they'd been munching on for the last hour. "It's been more than a few days. I'm not _that _pathetic." Then she smiled sweetly at her father. "And you should be flattered."

"Uh-oh."

"What?"

"That smile."

"What about it?" She watched her dad finish putting away the dishes and sat back at the table with her once more. "It's the same smile I've had since you were born."

"Yeah, but you didn't smile when you were born. You wailed." Kevin sat in the seat across from her, crossing his legs at the knee. He brought up his hand, resting his chin in it, gazing at his youngest child. "And wailed and wailed. All until Kendall held you, anyway." He took his coffee mug and sipped it quietly. "That was the only way to get you to stop crying. And believe me when I say that your mom and I took advantage of that for a while."

"Is that why Kendall gets so annoyed with having to look after me?" Katie asked.

"Not that you're easy to look after."

"Okay, he only lost one eyebrow, _once. _It's not like I did anything like that on purpose." Katie held up her hands defensively. "I was only two, I didn't know what I was doing. And it was Kendall's idea to make you guys breakfast when he knew we couldn't do it."

Kevin laughed. He sat back down at the table with his daughter and grabbed the plate of food away from her. "That's what they always say. You just like to try and deflect attention off you." He sighed wistfully, looking at her. "How many other sneaky things that you've done have I missed?"

"Why?' Katie shifted in her seat, trying to ignore the sudden squirmy feeling in her stomach. The same one she always got whenever they talked about how he hadn't been there, how he'd abandoned them. "Are you going to tell mom?"

"No. I just want to know." Kevin shook his head, trying to hide his face as he turned away. Katie caught his smirk and balled up her napkin, throwing it at him. "Okay, okay, truce. Anyway, why don't you tell me what's been going on with you? We've been talking about Kendall for most of the day and you still haven't admitted that you miss him."

"It's hard to miss someone when you're used to them being gone," Katie replied.

Then quickly brought up a hand to cover her mouth, eyes widening. Kevin's eyes darkened and he turned away, clearing his throat as he started to rip at the edges of his napkin. Katie opened and closed her mouth, wanting to apologize, but being stuck, unable to find the words.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd ever have to apologize for anything. Shortly after her dad left, when things had gotten harder for her and her family, it was easier to be tough about things. To worry about herself. Her mom didn't need to worry about her, she already had too much on her plate with the house, with her job, with getting Kendall to hockey practice, with driving him and the boys around when she had the time...with taking them all to the hospital.

"That doesn't mean that you can't miss them," Kevin reminded her. "And there's nothing wrong with missing someone. It just means you care about them."

"Whatever. It's not like they haven't gone on tour before. Mom and I can always take care of ourselves."

"I don't doubt it. You've always been resilient like that." Kevin ran a hand across his face, then pushed his hair back from his forehead. He flashed a smile, quickly changing the subject. Katie watched as he wrung his hands together, noticing the way they shook. He let out a short breath and then forced a smile. "So, how're things with the boyfriend going?"

Katie made a face. Since when did he care about that? They almost never talked about her dating life when she came to visit. They always talked about _her_; how she was doing, her grades, her interests. And, so far, they managed _not _to talk about how he hadn't shown up to her graduation party and only sent a stuffed animal as a consolation prize. And she managed to _not _talk about how she'd ripped off the head of said stuffed animal and threw it across her room.

"Why?" She hedged. "You never really liked him."

"That's not true!"

"Yes, it is!"

Kevin held up his hands. "All I said was I was surprised when I found out you were going out. He just doesn't seem like he's your type." His lips turned up in a teasing smile. "He looks like a pincushion," Kevin remarked.

"Just because he has tattoos and piercings doesn't mean he's a bad guy, daddy," Katie replied. She sighed heavily, trying not to look at her phone. It hadn't buzzed with a text or message for most of the day, neither from Patrick or Regular. It was starting to bug her how much she leapt for her phone every time she started to grab for it, only for the screen to show nothing but darkness in return. No notification light, no blinking cursor to show she was missing some messages. Not even from Lizzie. (Though that wasn't too weird, she and Dak always went radio silent when they had to spend time with their parents).

"I didn't say he was a bad guy, just that he looks like a pin cushion. How many piercings does he have now?"

"Just the two in his lip," Katie said, almost defensively. "And the on in his ear. That's it." She eyed her father. "Didn't I see old pictures of you and mom, where you had long hair and your ears pierced?"

"Okay, good point." He held up his hands. "No need to bite my head off. I'm just saying he doesn't really seem like your type to me."

"Oh really? And who is?"

"I don't know. For a little while there, I thought you might've liked James." Katie's eyes widened in horror and she started to sputter, stammering to come out with a response. Kevin laughed loudly, hard enough that tears came to his eyes. When he finally calmed down, e wiped them away. "Oh gosh, I must've been right, then. I was just kidding."

"I don't like James!" Katie declared, finally finding her voice. "I never did! Why does everyone think that?"

"Because when you were a toddler you always wanted to be held by him. Even more than you did Kendall. And, you know, if that's the case, I have to blame you for how big his head had been since then."

"I _don't _like him!"

"Right, you have a boyfriend."

"Yeah, maybe…" Katie sighed heavily. "We got into a fight over something stupid and we haven't talked since then and I don't know if we _are _going to talk or if we're going to pretend noting happened or…" she trailed off, slapping her hands to her lap. "It's complicated."

"It always is. Believe me, I'm the poster child of complicated." Kevin looked to the side, shrugging. "And it probably doesn't help that your boyfriend doesn't like me, considering I represented Robert in the trial."

Katie took in a deep breath. She twisted her fingers together and chewed her lower lip. There were a lot of things she didn't want to bring up with her father, didn't want to rock the boat. Didn't want to dwell on things that didn't matter as much. Didn't want to ruin a relationship that worked well for her. Kendall could be mad all he wanted, but Katie had a good relationship with her dad. She didn't want to rock the boat.

"How could you do that?" She asked. Her gaze shifted aside before settling back on her father. "Knowing what's happened? How could you defend him?"

"Who said I was defending him?" Kevin easily turned.

Katie opened and closed her mouth. "Um." Reaching up, she ran a hand through her hair, brushing it off her forehead. Realizing what she was doing, realizing how similar it was to her father's movement, she dropped her hand once more. Katie always thought she was similar to her mother, in many ways, but maybe she was more like her father than she thought. _Or, maybe, you're using the move as a way to secretly check your phone, _she thought. "You decided to take him on as a client. And defend him while he in trial, for beating u his kids, my friends. What else would you be doing?" She couldn't help the angry edge that came to her tone.

"My job," Kevin said simply. He leaned toward Katie, looking her in the eye. "There are many cases that I've done that I haven't agreed with. There's even been some people that I know are guilty of the crimes they're being accused of, but I have to do it-"

"-No, you don't-"

"—Because it's my job—"

"—You can get another job—"

"—To make sure that the person I'm defending has a _fair trial!" _Kevin insisted, putting emphasis on his last words. Katie opened her mouth to protest even further then stopped. She blinked rapidly, taking in his words. "My job isn't to win. It isn't to get the most amount of money from other people. It's not even to get someone off whatever they did, it's to make sure they have a fair trial. Because, if they don't, then all sorts of hell can be risen, and things may go in a way that'd be even more catastrophic than anyone could expect. Some really bad people can be set free."

Katie shook her head. "But he hardly had anything happen to him—"

"—With the amount of community service, probation, restraining orders, fines, and all the other things he has to do, I don't think what happened to Rob would be considered, 'nothing'." Kevin used air quotes around the words. "Not to mention, there was the fact that he was heavily influenced by the abuse he felt when he was a kid, it was the only way he knew what love was and how to show love. I'm not saying it's right, or fair, or excuses what he did, but it at least gives an answer to some tough questions." He looked at her closely. "Did you really want to talk about that?"

"No." Katie shook her head. But she wanted to talk about _anything _but boyfriends and how she felt about them.

Even though she only had one.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Kevin dropped Katie off at the Palm Woods where she gave him a big hug goodbye before heading into the Palm Woods. She waited until she crossed over the threshold of the apartment complex before pulling out her phone. She tried to keep her shoulders from slumping when she saw her screen was still empty. No calls, no texts, no notifications, no nothing.

"What's the matter with you?" Bitters' sarcastic tone reached her from the front desk. Katie glanced up at him, seeing him leaning against the front desk, alternatively looking from her to the mini TV set up in the corner. To keep himself entertained and to keep an eye on any of his rules that were being broken. "Let me guess, boyfriend trouble."

_How does everyone know that? _Katie glared back at him, moving closer to his desk. "What's it to you?"

"Nothing," Bitters replied. "It's just nice not to see your face sneering at me over the top of your cards."

She held up her hands. "It's not my fault you're horrible at poker." She smirked. "And at life."

"Yeah, yeah..." Bitters waved his hand. "We'll see how you do. I've been practicing. Bhudda Bob, the housekeeping staff and I are playing this weekend. I'm coming for all your money, kid."

Katie rolled her eyes. "You've never beaten me before. You're not going to win now." She shook her head. "You don't even have anything to bet with! I took all your stocks!"

"Well, I invested in something else!" Bitters shot back. "Cyber security, amazon, Disney…" He stuck his nose in the air. "And it show's how much you know; I just upped the rent and now I've got more money than I know what to do with."

"I'm sure mom's loving that," Katie muttered.

"About as much as she is with you gambling underage, I bet."

_Touché, _Katie thought. "So, where are we going to play?"

"My place."

Katie's upper lip curled. Poker or not, she didn't want to be in Bitters' apartment. Not when he probably had a hundred different ways to make sure that life in Palm Woods was even worse than it already was. And, again, it was Bitters. No one wanted to be around him or close to him for more than a few minutes. Especially with how, well, _bitter _he could be. Especially when it came to the boys. Even from where she stood, Kendall could see the background on his computer screen where he'd taken a picture of Big Time Rush and replaced Kendall's face with his.

"I don't think so," Katie said. "Homefield advantage. The same way you wouldn't want to come to the crib in case I was cheating."

"You do cheat!"

"Says you." Katie stretched her arm in front of her. "Fine, poker. You're on!"

"Fine!" Bitters turned his attention back to his tv. "Now, go away."

Katie rolled her eyes and left.

* * *

**A/N:** Took me a while to get back to this and it's a shorter chapter than I usually would do, but such is life. I hope you all enjoy it anyway!

**Cheers,**

**-Riles**


	8. Chapter 8

**.:Chapter Eight:.**

* * *

Katie's eyes shot open when she heard her phone buzzing incessantly on her bedside table. She reached around and picked it up as quickly as she could. Her eyes darted over toward the other side of the room, where her mother, hopefully, was still asleep.

Holding her breath, Katie waited until she heard a loud snore and saw her mother turn around, dropping an arm over her head. Katie released the breath quietly, bringing her hand up to her chest, feeling her heart hammer against her throat so hard she felt sick. She knew what'd happen if she had woken her mother up, not just because of waking her up, but because she woke her up on her _phone_. They, she and the boys, already had a rule when they were younger and first starting out in LA that they had to have their phones turned off at the end of every night.

It was, sort of, still a rule for her, that she wasn't to have her phone on her but…that was a rule easily broken. She'd even found her mom on her phone at night, trying to turn the attention back onto her. But her mom always defended herself, saying it was for work or something that had to do with the guys' band. Katie always took it in stride. It wasn't like _she _had a boyfriend who was from another country where international calls resulted in large phone bills.

Pressing her lips together, Katie slid out of bed, grabbed her blanket, and tip-toed to the living room. She curled up in a corner of the couch and covered herself in the blanket before picking up her phone. She hesitated for a moment, keeping the face pressed against her knees before turning it over to see what she'd gotten.

The first notification, the gain on her stocks and he increase in her bank account, made her smile. After the crushing blow of her win against Bitters a few weeks back, she was having more fun gloating than ever before. Especially when she was able to show off how much better her investments had become. The second message made her smile, but less than before. It was simply a smile face emoji from Patrick, a response she'd received from a comment she'd made a few days before.

They'd started to talk a little bit more since their argument but nothing to where they used to talk all the time. And there'd be hours or days that'd span between each message. Not that it was _too _weird…when he was working in the studio or on music, it would take a long time between messages to keep a conversation going. But there was a difference—and a difference in insecurities—that came when not knowing how to come out from the rubble of a destructive argument.

Katie scrolled through a couple more messages of acting and commercial opportunities for her—she was still waiting to hear about that show—and finally found a message from Regular. Her heart thumped even harder—making her frown—when she opened it, realizing how excited it'd made her.

She'd gotten used to having almost daily conversations with Regular, though he'd gone radio silent lately. But it'd surprised her just _how _much she'd grown to enjoy talking to Regular. They talked about everything and anything, and even hard conversations about things they didn't agree with each other about. Not arguments, conversations.

It was refreshing. Everyone seemed to want to go straight to being mad about things when they disagreed. But she found she could have a conversation about who was the better wrestler between Dean Ambrose and Daniel Bryan and have fun with it rather than having things evolve into an all caps screaming match. (And the amount of times she'd been told "Shouldn't you focus more on the female wrestlers, it's more your speed" or "You're such a fake fan" all because she was a girl was enough for her to want to punch her computer screen).

**Regular: **Sorry I've been MIA lately, thigs haven't been going so great over here.

**Katie:** What's been going on?"

**Regular:** I've been getting into some fight with my mom. Stupid fights.

**Katie:** About what?

**Regular:** *Rolls eyes* She thinks I spend too much time on the computer. That I don't have enough friends. Can you believe that she's even asked me why I don't have a girlfriend yet? Actually, she was kind of hinting toward asking whether or not I was gay but…

**Katie:** Why does everyone care whether or not you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?

**Regular:** Um…because people care.

**Katie:** Ha ha.

**Katie:** But why does she care whether or not you're with someone.

**Regular:** It's like I said, I don't have a lot of friends. I live by myself, I go to work, I don't really see many people during the day. Just my idiot co-workers and everyone who works for me.

Katie paused for a second. Her thumbs hovered over her phone screen. He lived by himself? That meant he was older than she originally thought. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't asked him how old she was in the entire time that they were talking. She'd only assumed he was her age. Or, maybe it was like Dak and Lizzie, where they'd emancipated themselves from beneath their controlling and, borderline neglectful, parents.

**Katie:** You live by yourself?

It took a little while before Regular responded.

**Regular:** Yeah…

**Regular:** I'm a little bit older than you. Is that weird? I never told you before because I didn't know if it would seem weird or creepy because I really like talking to you."

**Katie:** I like talking to you, too.

**Katie:** How old are you?

It took even longer to get a response this time. So much so that Katie wondered if she should just go straight to bed. But, finally, she saw the little dots popping up at the bottom of the screen along with the words 'Regular is typing' and waited. And waited. And waited. She held her breath, seeing the words disappear then re-appear and disappear and reappear again. Finally, she got a message in response.

**Regular:** I'm nineteen. Almost 20. If that makes you uncomfortable at all, we can stop talking to each other. I just…you're one of the few people I've met that are real, you know? I'm not going to lie and say I'm a big fan of your brother and his band, I'm not really part of his demographic of screaming girls. But I saw an interview you and your mom did and I thought you were one of the few real people out in Hollywood. I followed you to see if it was real and then I saw your post about your birthday…

**Regular:** If you want to stop talking to me now, I understand. I know a lot of people don't understand. I haven't told my mom or anyone else that I talk to you because they wouldn't get it. But age doesn't matter to me. I hope it doesn't matter to you, either…

It was Katie's turn to respond and she didn't quite know what to say. On one hand, it _was _a little weird to know she'd been talking to a twenty-year-old the entire time. But on the other…he was the same age as her brother. Just a little bit older. And the guys were some of her best friends, they were her brothers. There wasn't anything strange about that. (Except for those people online who continued to try and 'ship' her and James together which was just…ugh. That was the _last time _she'd let Lizzie talk her into looking for those kinds of accounts and stories for a laugh). So why was she a little bit nervous, a little bit excited to respond to him.

_It's nothing, _Katie reminded herself, shaking off the nerves with a roll of her eyes. _It's just a few years. Mom and Ronan have an age-difference between them. _About ten years or so, if her mother was being honest about her age. All the same, she knew that argument wouldn't fly with her mother. Her mom was an adult, she could date anyone she wanted, no matter how much younger than her he was.

But Katie wasn't a child.

She could make her own decisions.

**Katie:** It's not weird. I'm just…disappointed, I guess. I had an image of you in my head and it didn't match up.

**Regular:** You don't even know what I look like.

**Katie:** You're right! That's not fair! You know what _I _look like!

**Regular:** Everyone in the world does, once your brother became famous, people were rushing to know everything they could about the guys and the people they surrounded themselves by. So you were one of the first people they researched and tried to emulate in a way.

**Katie:** *snorts*

**Regular:** I'm not kidding! Do you know how many people have fan accounts for you? Or have said that they started playing poker because of you. Or that they want to try and be like you.

**Katie:** That's kind of creepy.

Not that she hadn't had experience with it. She waded through thousands of messages a day on her social media accounts of those that either had her name in the handles or demanded some sort of response in some way. And, of course, she'd seen the pictures of people who'd 'dressed up as her' for Halloween. It was nice…in a sort of creepy way. The attention was weird to her. She'd never been used to that much attention, never wanted it.

**Regular:** Or flattering, sort of. You're a gorgeous girl, so, of course, there's going to be people fawning over you. It's not quite my speed, but I get it.

**Katie:** So you wouldn't fawn over me?

**Regular:** I do, I'm just saying I wouldn't be so creepy about it.

Katie smiled, ducking her head as if he could see her, as if he'd said it to her face. Then he made her smile fade with his next message.

**Regular:** Is your boyfriend going to be mad that I said that to you?

She thought about it, wondering if Patrick really _would _get mad about it. They usually would have laughed about it, with him commenting on all the desperate comments he'd gotten online. And that'd be before they'd fall over themselves, laughing so hard that tears would come at the messages and comments her brother and his friends would get from girls trying to get into their messages to date them, despite all four boys being in happy relationships. Now…she wasn't quite sure. He'd probably be a little jealous, if not sure how to respond to it in general.

Instead, Katie changed the subject.

**Katie:** Do you think your girlfriend would?

**Regular:** I don't have a girlfriend, remember?

**Katie:** I know, I'm just asking do you think your girlfriend would be mad about you sending a comment like that?

**Regular:** No. The girl I'm with wouldn't be immature about that sort of thing. You get it, you're not worried about that sort of thing. You're one of the most mature sixteen-year-olds-I know.

Katie grinned.

**Katie**: I'm more worried about being kicked out of the PalmWoods.

**Regular:** Oh, that Bitters guy, right? I don't think he has the authority to kick you out if you keep paying rent. And, your dad's a lawyer, so he'd help you out.

**Katie:** Yeah, maybe

**Regular:** Are you still getting along with him?

**Katie:** Yeah. But I know it hurts my mom and Kendall

**Regular**: They must not care about your happiness so much if that's the case. Because they can't keep you from doing what makes you happy. And seeing your dad, having a relationship with him makes you happy.

**Katie:** You're right

**Regular:** That's what I'd do, if I were your boyfriend. I'd want nothing but for you to be happy. I mean, even as you friend I want that. You deserve to be happy

**Katie:** Thank you

**Katie:** And you're right, I do

She then noticed a file being transferred over their message and looked to see what it was. An image.

**Katie:** What's that?

**Regular:** I thought you'd be happy to see what I looked like. You were right before, I haven't shown you any pictures of myself or anything. It's not fair.

**Regular:** So, what do you think?

Katie studied the picture as it came in, feeling herself starting to smile when she did. Then shook her head, biting her lips when she realized it. Realized it was the same way she'd smiled when she first started to notice how cute Patrick was (and Noah by extension, she _had _kinda-sorta liked him first) and not just in that 'he's a boy I like to hang out with' sort of way she had with all her guy friends.

Regular was good looking…though the picture was a little grainy. A little pixelated. But that's what happened when it was a blown-up picture. Katie tried to reduce the size but found that it quickly zoomed out, making it harder to see. Nevertheless, she returned it to normal size and looked at the picture once more. A brown haired, hazel-eyed picture of a grinning young man smiled back at her. The more she looked at it, the more butterflies erupted in her stomach. Especially because, something about it seemed so familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

**Regular:** I didn't know I was that ugly, lol

**Katie:** You're not ugly

**Regular**: How can I tell? You haven't said anything

**Katie:** I was looking at the picture!

**Regular**: Admiring you mean

**Regular:** Are you blushing? It's okay if you are

**Katie:** You're worse than Patrick

**Regular**: Maybe, but at least I'll still talk to you after a disagreement

**Katie:** Ouch. :(

**Regular**: Sorry! :( I just mean I wouldn't do that to you

**Katie: **I know.

Hearing a shuffling sound, Katie looked away from her phone. At first, she was surprised to see the sky had lightened outside the window that overlooked the PalmWoods Pool, not realizing she'd been talking so long. Then she was surprised to realize she'd noticed the sound of her mother waking up because the crib was so quiet. Sadness hit her gut once more, knowing it'd be a while before her brother and his friends came back from their radio tour. As much as she complained about the noise and chaos they brought, she lived for that noise and chaos. It was always fun.

**Katie:** Gotta go, my mom's waking up

**Regular:** :) Talk to you later.

Katie put her phone to her lap and watched as her mother, yawning, came shuffling out of their bedroom. Katie flashed a small smile to her mom and said jokingly, "I thought I was being quiet. How'd I wake you up?"

"It's not you," Mrs. Knight replied. She went to the coffee pot and started up a cup. "I was trying to decide whether or not I wanted to go to an early workout class in the gym. And with the boys gone I can hear everything through the walls of this place. The people next to us snore really loud."

Katie struggled not to laugh, knowing it was more likely she heard her own snoring reverberating back to her. But rather than incur the Mama Bear's wrath, she simply said, "You're right," in response.

"Did it wake you up?"

Katie shook her head, pulling her feet back on the couch so that her mom could sit on the end of the couch. She gestured to her phone. "I was just talking," she said, then noticed the look of disapproval on her mother's face and quickly added, "to Lizzie. I was talking to Lizzie. About, stuff."

"You woke up this early to talk about 'stuff'?"

"You know Lizzie, she likes to talk." Katie internally grimaced, knowing Lizzie was going to get back at her for that later. "We were talking about dating and stuff." She sighed. "Dating is hard," Katie remarked.

Mrs. Knight smiled a little, brushing her hair back from her face. "Try being married." She tapped Katie on the knee. "_That's _hard."

Katie was about to point out that shea and her dad were separated and, technically, hadn't been married for years, but decided not to. It wasn't her business and she wasn't going to try and get her mom to explain it to her. "But when you're married you're just living with another person. You did the same thing when you and dad moved in together."

Mrs. Knight's eyebrows rose. She shook her head gently before replying. "You're not living together; you're making a _life _together." She sat up, ignoring the sound of the coffee pot going off. "All the decisions you'd make for yourself, you have to make with someone else in mind. When you're single, or even wen you're dating, people tend to be selfish. You can't be selfish when you're married to someone else. You have to be a team and know how to work together no matter what is thrown at you." She ran a hand through her hair. "I guess that's how you tell when you're in love, too. When you start thinking more of how the other person is going to be affected by your actions and how things will affect them and both of you as a whole."

Katie twisted her mouth to the side. She'd seen the guys when they were 'in love' and…wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She'd seen her mother when she was 'in love' in pictures and didn't know if that was something she was quite ready for. Not especially after seeing how people got when they were broken up with. "When did you stop loving dad?"

For a moment, her mother looked surprised. Katie had never asked her that question before, that she could remember. She probably hadn't expected to _ever _be asked that by Kendall or Katie. As it was, Kendall refused to talk about their dad in general, and when he did, it was stilted and awkward. Though that was better than the alternative, where he was simply just angry at their dad and was aggressive about it.

"I don't know," Mrs. Knight said finally. "After a while, I stopped being able to handle how he was always gone and I was always taking care of you and your brother." She noticed the look on Katie's face and added. "I love you and your brother, but you have to realize it's a lot of work for a woman who didn't have much and who's husband was consistently gone. I had to work out daycare, babysitters that you didn't run off, who was going to be where when, hockey practices, horseback riding lessons, needing to have my own life and my own identity that wasn't just a wife and a mother." She paused. "I guess it's when I started to resent him for always putting his dreams ahead of mine."

"What were your dreams?"

"It wasn't being a manager of a diner; I can tell you that."

"I'm being serious, mom."

Mrs. Knight shrugged. She played with the end of her the belt that held her robe together. Twisted and twirled it in the air. "I don't know," she replied. "I never really got a chance to think about them. I was in college when I met your dad and we married and had you two not long after. I have a degree in hospitality, but there wasn't much that I thought of what I wanted to do more than that." Then she smiled warmly and added, "But being out here in LA has really showed me a lot of things that I didn't think I could ever do. Not only am I Momager for a successful boyband,"—Katie grinned, making her smile wider—"But I've also realized some other things I want to do."

"Like what?"

"Like…maybe I'll start up a winery, or a business to help moms whose kids are going into the industry."

Katie's eyes popped open. "Wow! That's great, mom." She leaned forward excitedly. "So, what are you going to do?"

"I haven't decided yet. There are a few things that have jumped out at me, but there's a lot of work that needs to go into it." Mrs. Knight started to count off on her fingers. "There's money, space, needing to hire people, interviews, healthcare, everything you could think of." She shook her head, resting her cheek on her upraised chin. "There's so much that's going into it that I've never thought of. But it's getting to be pretty real. I've talked to Gustavo and Kelly and Ronan about it and they seem to think any of those ventures is a good idea, too."

"You're going to do great, mom," Katies said. "You can do anything."

"Really?"

"If you can handle two kids like me and Kendall by yourself, you can handle anything." She leaned forward and gave her mother a quick kiss on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Katie."

That was the kind of love she could handle.


	9. Chapter 9

**.:Chapter Nine:.**

* * *

Katie sucked in a deep breath, lowering her gloved fists to her sides. She drew her arm across her forehead, wiping away the sweat that gathered at her hairline. Nothing made a workout better than being able to mercilessly beat a punching bag to death. And it certainly had met its maker, with the stuffing that was starting to fall out the patched-up sides.

She made a mental note to ask Bitters to put in a new one. The third time she'd have to ask. The first two times he simply walked over with a giant roll of duct tape and slapped it over the tear in the bag. All with that stupid, smug, little smile on his face and that gleam in his beady little eyes that proved he was the cheapest of the cheapskates she'd ever known.

But there was only so much someone could do when they kept losing to her in poker. It was a wonder he could afford to keep the PalmWoods going with how much she managed to take from him. Feeling a burn in her shoulders, Katie raised and lowered them repeatedly, then rolled her neck, trying to work out the burn. Then she raised her hands, ready to strike the punching bag once more. She threw her hand forward, her knuckles barely glimpsing off the side of the bag.

She hissed a sharp breath between her teeth, clenching her eyes as she waited for the sting to subside. Letting out her breath, Katie turned her fist over and made a low 'tsk' sound, studying the reddening of her knuckles beneath the thinning threads of her old boxing gloves.

"Wow, you're _really _behind the times." Katie rolled her eyes, already cringing without having to turn around. She knew Victoria Prince's voice a mile away, mostly because her mocking drawl was always directed at her. She'd hoped that since they were getting older—and that Victoria was slowly starting to make her was up as a 'internet model'—that'd it'd keep her away from the Palm Woods more often. Obviously, life wasn't being very kind to her as of late. "I mean, it's just sporting equipment but you're even more pathetic than I thought."

Katie looked at Victoria with a raised eyebrow. "You're making fun of me because of my boxing gloves?" She asked. "Really? Are you _that _pathetic?"

Victoria's smirk widened. "I could've made fun of you for everything else, like I always do." She shrugged. "But even _that's _started to become too easy." She giggled to herself. "I'm at least _trying _to challenge myself a little. You just make it too easy."

"Don't you have some camera to flaunt yourself in front of?" Katie asked, folding her arms. She felt the burn of her overworked muscles and smiled to herself, imagining going back to work once Victoria left but mentally putting the face of her bully as her target. "It doesn't take much brain cells to stand there and smile."

"Jealous?"

"Right. I'm jealous of having everyone tell me how I have to stand, dress, smile, and act stupid." Katie shoved off her boxing gloves and made a show of cracking her knuckles. She smiled to herself, noticing Victoria's smirk fade just slightly and she took a step back, under the guise of searching for something through her purse. "What do you want, Victoria?"

"I just came over to say, 'happy birthday'," Victoria replied.

Katie blinked at her in surprise. Then in suspicion. They'd never gotten along, not since Victoria rolled through the Palm Woods with her nose in the air and a thousand dollar purse hooked over her shoulder. And she was only thirteen at the time. Katie knew immediately Victoria was a spoiled brat and had been proven right within minutes. She tried to be nice to the new girl, wanted her to feel that the Palm Woods could be a cool place to live—and, maybe, try to have a girlfriend—when Victoria looked at her, looked her up and down, made a face, and turned away.

Not long after that, Victoria started to taunt, tease, and bully Katie in any way that she could. Katie didn't take everything that Victoria threw at her, she held her ground very well. But…there were times that Victoria managed to get under her skin. Unlike boys, who threatened to beat each other up, shoved each other, became aggressive in any way they could, girls were a lot more devious They didn't just threaten each other, they were malicious with their words, were manipulative in ways that not even the biggest politicians could muster, and they always knew how to hit a girl where it hurt.

Victoria knew how to get under Katie's skin and despite how strong she was, there were times Victoria managed to stick Katie where it hurt, drawing in from her insecurities that even Katie didn't know she had. Having her brothers around he Palm Woods, and her friends, made things easier. But now that Victoria was by herself, and not with her 'girl posse', the low-rent version of the Jennifers, it seemed that her barbs weren't as strong as they used to be.

Or maybe Katie was stronger.

"_You _wanted to say, 'happy birthday'?" Katie replied. She studied Victoria's face for any sort of insincerity. "To me?"

Victoria nodded. "Mhm."

"Why?"

"Everyone deserves to have a happy birthday, Katherine." That was another thing she absolutely hated, how much she taunted Katie with her full name. That she didn't _dislike _her name—Apple was the worst part of it—but knowing how Victoria said it to make it sound like a slur made her anger spike like a bubbling volcano. Victoria lowered the sunglasses that she wore since walking into the building. "Even _you_. And it'd be, I don't know, _rude _if I didn't say something. Even though I wasn't invited to your party."

"You wouldn't have even wanted to come."

"Of course, I would."

Katie watched as Victoria's face screwed up in offense. For a moment, Katie felt bad. She knew what it was like to be left out of parties. Victoria threw one almost every weekend and she made sure to invite everyone from the Palm Woods School but her, making a big show of it. _"Sorry, Katie, maybe next time." _Miss. Collins would reprimand Victoria for it every time, but there was only so much the teacher could do. Especially when Victoria's father was one of the wealthiest people in the city.

It was no wonder she got the best place in the Palm Woods within a few days of just moving in.

"_You _wanted to come to _my _birthday party?" Katie asked. Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"

"Because I wanted to see what _not _to do for my party, duh," Victoria replied, rolling her eyes. "It's supposed to be a Sweet Sixteen, not a family fest." Her eyes widened as if she just remembered something and tapped her finger against her cheek. "Wait…your dad _did _show, didn't he?"

All at once, a flash of rage rushed through Katie. She clenched her hand into a fist, ready to pull it back and drive it straight into Victoria's nose. Wanted to hear the '_crunch_' of her broke nose and watch the blood flow to stain the front of her very expensive outfit. (Katie knew it was expensive since Victoria flaunted how much it cost the day after she bought it).

But she didn't get the satisfaction.

Instead, Bitters shuffled over and said, "Your father pays for this place to stay open, not for you to drive people away," he snarled.

Katie started to laugh, holding her hand over her mouth to keep from making her laugher encompass the gym while Victoria's eyes nearly bugged out of her head, cheeks turning red. "You can't talk to me like that! My daddy pays your salary!"

"Your daddy pays your rent; he doesn't have a thing to do with my salary. And because I own this building, I can talk to you brats however I want," Bitters replied. "I always said I didn't want kids coming in here and this is the reason why." He grasped the punching bag and with a sharp tug, to turn it his way, managed to make it swing over and bump into Victoria hard enough to knock her to the ground. "Sorry."

With a huff, Victoria got to her feet and stalked out of the gym as fast as she could go. Katie stopped laughing long enough to say, "I wish I'd thought of that."

"I've been wanting to do that to her since she moved in," Bitters replied. Then he leered at Katie, bending to the side to pick up a giant roll of duct tape. He pulled off a long strip and struggled to rip it off. "What are you looking at?"

"Are you seriously not going to get another punching bag?" Katie demanded. "It's falling apart!"

"It looks fine!"

"You're so cheap."

"Takes one to know one." Bitters nodded down to the threadbare gloves by her feet. "Didn't you just get some fancy schmancy new gloves for your birthday?" Katie's eyes narrowed back at him, wondering how he knew that. "You threatened to beat me up with them, remember? After I wasn't invited to your party."

"Yeah, that seems to be going around," Katie grumbled in response.

She let out a long sigh.

When did life get to be so complicated? "And I don't need to use my new gloves when these are just fine." And didn't remind her of how much she wanted to punch just about everyone at that point—Kendall for going on tour, her dad for not showing up to her party, Patrick for the fight they got in, Lizzie for being so preoccupied with her dance stuff, but most importantly, herself for being so…

So…what?

"What are you so mad about?" Bitters asked, still watching her. "Did you break a nail?" He patched one side of the punching bag.

"Very funny."

"Oh. So, this has to do with Lover Boy." Bitters sneered, slapping a piece of tape against the side of the gym equipment with a slap so hard that it pushed forward and threatened to knock Katie over. Katie grabbed it and pulled it toward her, threatening to shove it into Bitters.

Katie glared at him. "Why is that any of your business?"

Bitters' sneer seemed to grow wider—if that were even possible-as he gestured behind her. "Because he's been pacing back in forth in my lobby for the last two hours, strangling a bouquet of flowers to death! I got tired of watching him, loser stops being funny after the first twenty minutes." He sniffed hard. "And it's making my allergies kick in!"

Katie blinked, then heaved the punching bag forward. It smacked Bitters in the chest, knocking him flat on his back. "Ow!" He cried. Katie ignored him, turning on her heel. She brushed her hair back behind her ears, the strands that fell lose from her ponytail, and started towards the Palm Woods lobby. With each step she took, a new question filled her head.

_What's he doing here?_

_Does it matter?_

_Why are you getting so worked up?_

_It's not like you're excited to see him._

_Or maybe you feel guilty. That's ridiculous, what do I have to feel guilty about?_

Katie rounded the corner of the gym and headed toward the lobby. She looked up and spotted Patrick pacing back and forth—mindlessly pacing—hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket, hood pulled up over his head. His gaze was tilted to the ground as he moved around in a circle, not paying much attention to the people who were trying to move around him. She would've thought he was listening to music from the way he continued to pace in a tight circle, blocking out everything from around him, but knew it was normal when he was bored.

"You know, you're usually supposed to go places when you walk around," she commented after watching him for a few moments. "Not go in circes."

Patrick looked up at her, immediately coming to a stop. His eyes shifted back and forth for a second, trying to focus from having spun around so quickly. "You'd think that'd be impossible to screw up, but I burn toast," he joked. Finally, he brought up his hands, pressed them to the side of his head, and blinked hard. When he finally regained focus, he looked straight at her. "What happened to your hands?"

Katie lifted them as if it was the first time seeing them, then grimaced. Her knuckles were redder than a tomato. "I was in the gym," she said.

His eyes bounced from her fists to her face. An eyebrow quirked upwards. "Punching bloody clowns?" He asked.

Katie stifled a laugh. Not just because of his way of speaking, but that it doubled as a lame joke he'd always make. "No, but there was someone I really _wanted _to punch. I ran into Victoria."

"Ooh. And she lived?"

"I said I ran _into _her, not _ran her down," _Katie replied. She folded her arms. "Not that I didn't _want _to do that," she added under her breath. Patrick chuckled. Katie smiled. An uncomfortable silence stretched between them "So, um, what are you doing here?"

Patrick's eyes shifted. He opened and closed his mouth. Reached up and rubbed at his neck. "I hang out here almost every day, is it weird to be here?"

Katie shrugged in response. Didn't speak. Because if she did, she'd say that he didn't come to the Palm Woods to hang out with her every day, he came to the Palm Woods to hang out with the guys. To finish whatever work they hadn't finished at the studio. To get into whatever trouble it was that they'd gotten into that time—that she inevitably had to fix. Even when they first started dating, he'd find some sort of excuse to be around

_To be around you, _Katie reminded herself, shaking off the negativity that seemed to stick around her lately. (It's what Kendall, James, Logan, and Carlos tried to reassure her, anyway).

Annoyance flickered over Patrick's face. "Fine, I'll just leave."

"You don't have to," Katie said quickly.

"Why not? It's clear you don't want me here."

"I didn't say that."

Patrick lifted an eyebrow once more. "You didn't have to. It's written all over your face, yeah? You're so opinionated on everything."

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are," he insisted. He lifted his thumb and started to count. "You like comedies but not romantic comedies, you like action movies but not when they try to be funny-"

"So?" Katie tightened her grasp on her folded arms. "I'm specific."

"Or a control freak," Patrick insisted. "You liked to take control of everything; you career, your finances, everyone around you."

Katie huffed. Turned her gaze to the ceiling, then back to her boyfriend—or maybe ex-boyfriend's—face. "Are you trying to make up with me or are you trying to make me mad?"

Startled, Patrick blinked. Then his cheeks turned red and he looked away from her. Then back to her. Then away from her once more. "Who said I was trying to make up with you?"

Her jaw dropped. Then she closed it, feeling her own face start to turn red. Was she wrong? There's no way she could be wrong. Bitters said he was out there for two hours with flowers. Who else would do something that romantic if they weren't trying to make up with someone? Then Katie realized the words that shot through her head and she rolled her eyes. She'd been spending too much time with Kendall. "The flowers?"

"What flowers?" If it were possible, his face turned even redder when she pointed them out, motioning to the bouquet that sat on the floor by the nearby chair. With a few petals missing, as if he'd been twisting his hands around the stems. "Who said they were to make up with you?"

That made Katie's eyebrows fly up. She bit her lower lip, taking a step back from him. "…So, what are they for?"

"To say congratulations," Patrick replied. He picked them up and handed them to Katie, then reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "You must be really excited about the show. I didn't know if you were planning on having some sort of a party or something—"

"—Wait." Katie shook her head. "I got the part?"

"You didn't know?"

"No! My agent didn't tell me anything."

"It's all over the news." Patrick dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He swiped his thumb over it a few times then turned the phone around so she could see. Katie, first, looked at the picture of her headshot that accompanied the article, then quickly skimmed the article. He wasn't kidding. She'd gotten the part. She turned to him with wide eyes, unsure if she wanted to scream or start telling people.

Then, she realized, the first person she would've wanted to tell was standing right in front of her.

"I told you, you'd get it," he continued, putting his phone away, smiling that familiar lopsided smile she liked so much.

"You did," Katie agreed, smiling back. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, knew it was Regular messaging her to say congratulations. But didn't feel the need or want to look at her phone. "Thanks. And, thanks for the flowers." She grimaced, getting a better look at them. "Or, what's left of them."

Patrick grimaced as well. "I never said I had a green thumb. It's one of the few things I didn't get from my mum."

"Join the club," Katie agreed. "My mom and I can't keep things alive no matter how hard we try." _Maybe that's why we can't keep a relationship. Mom and dad got divorced and I…_she shook her head. "But these are nice. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Patrick replied. He shuffled his feet. "And, uh, I'm sorry for making you mad before," he said. "When we were fighting, yeah? I didn't mean to say you weren't important to me," he said. "You're really important to me, Katie. Even if I don't show it very well."

"You're important to me, too, Pat," Katie admitted. "And, I'm sorry, too. For getting mad and for…the phone thing." She ignored it vibrating again. "I guess, I just really miss, Kendall. So, I—"

"—I get it," Patrick interrupted. He raised and lowered his shoulder in a shrug. "If it was my brothers or sisters leaving, I'd be upset, too." He lowered his voice and added with a blush, "If it were _you _leaving, I'd be upset, yeah?"

"Yeah?" Katie brightened.

"Yeah." He reached up and started to tug lightly at the piercing in his lip, the movement he did when he was bored or overthinking something.

Katie felt herself starting to smile. She looked to her feet, sneaking a glance at him, then back to her feet, repeatedly. Finally, she stepped forward and ducked her head beneath Patrick's, planting her lips against his. He smiled and kissed her back, shoulders slumping as he relaxed. When Katie stepped back, she realized how much lighter she felt, too.

"You know, my dad calls you a porcupine," she teased, reaching up to ruffle the hair that poked through the hood he pulled up over his hair. She laughed when he jerked his head back from her reach before she could mess up any of the spikes of his fauxhawk.

"It's not the worst thing I've been called," He replied, knocking her hand away. He brought his hand down and wedged his fingers between hers. "Believe me." Katie's phone buzzed a third time. Again, she ignored it. Not feeling the rush to answer it as soon as possible. "Do you need to get that?"

And have their fight start all over again?"

"It can wait," she replied honestly. "Do you want to come up to the crib? Mom's out shopping."

"Sure," Patrick replied. "She's the only one in your family that wouldn't chase me out."

"That's kind of the point."

"I like the way your mind works."

"I like you," Katie replied, blushing when hearing how forward she was being.

"I like you, too."

Patrick lifted his arms and wrapped them around Katie, enveloping her in a tight hug. Katie leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his waist as she hugged him back.

Finally, things were turning around.

* * *

**A/N: **There had to be a happy chapter in here at some point with how much angst I had going on for most of the chapters so far. And what's a young couple making up that's not a happy chapter? Lol. I haven't written anything like this for Patie in a while, so I had fun with it.

Hope you enjoy.

**Cheers,**

**-Riles**


	10. Chapter 10

**.:Chapter 10:.**

* * *

Katie hugged her pillow to her chest, smiling to herself as she watched Kendall try to straighten himself on the camera he was holding. Or else he was working through de-tangling his headphones and shouting at the other guys to be quiet. Not that the humming of the bus in the background wasn't enough noise as it was.

"Are you okay?" Katie asked, when he finally got settled.

Kendall glanced at her and shook his head. "I'm tired, but I'm okay," he replied honestly. Then he coughed, bringing his arm up to cover his mouth. "I didn't think it'd be so hard to do so many radio shows. All you're doing is talking."

"You've done them before," Katie pointed out. However, she couldn't help but study her brother closely. He really _did _look tired. Too much partying on a tour bus, she suspected. There was much to be said about the way people acted when they were away from parental supervision and even Gustavo couldn't control them.

"Yeah, but that was one or two a day. Not every single radio station in every city you stop in."

Katie grinned. "Why not just have James do them all then?" She teased. "We all know he likes to talk about himself anyway."

Kendall laughed. "We did," he replied, voice suddenly croaking. "Now he's the only one who can't talk at all. Logan, Carlos, and I are a little raspy, but James can't speak!"

Katie laughed loudly. The idea of James not being able to talk was the biggest case of irony she'd ever heard. James Diamond loved to talk, especially about himself, especially about the band, especially about _himself _in the _band. _"That's, like, the best thing _ever!"_

"I know." Kendall laughed again, this time with Katie falling into the laughter with him. Their voices blended as if they were in the same room. Suddenly, Katie felt a pang of sadness in her chest, missing her brother more than she ever had before. "I guess I'm feeling okay, otherwise. My throat kind of hurts."

"Don't let mom hear you say that, then you'll be stuck with her constantly trying to figure out where you are and how sick you feel?" Katie wagged her finger back and forth. "She'll go to the ends of the earth to mama bear you when someone's sick. _You _especially." She grinned. "She'll probably end up at your next stop before you know it."

"But you're there now, she can put her attention on you," Kendall said with a roll of his eyes. "And you know she'd never leave you there by yourself. But nice try."

It was then Katie's turn to roll her eyes. "Oh come on, you're her baby boy. You know she only babies me when you're not around."

"You've never needed to be babied in your life. You knocked out Carlos when you were three!"

"I _told _him to leave me alone!" Katie defended herself, feeling her voice crack with the sudden shrill turn it took. "I didn't want to be play Barbies."

"You know how Carlos is, he _loves _Barbies."

"Are we sure he hasn't been hit one too many times in the head? I know his helmet was made for his own protection but…I don't think it's working anymore."

"I don't know, that's Stephanie's problem now, not mine."

Kendall smiled when Katie laughed once more. It made her realize, though, that she hadn't spoken to any of the girls in a little while. Hadn't talked to Jo, Camille, Stephanie, Riley, or Rhuben. With that realization, she couldn't help but frown. Was she not talking to them much because her brother and his friends were gone, and they weren't really friends? Were they just that busy with their own careers? Or was _she _just too busy with…other things?

"Are you okay, Baby Sister?" She should've known he would've noticed something was wrong with her. He was a good big brother in that way. But she didn't always like to talk to him about those things. Especially when he was insistent on helping her. "What's going on over there?"

"Not much…" Katie shrugged. There really _wasn't _much going on. She had gotten her first script for her show so she could get an idea of what her show was like. She was hanging out with her boyfriend and her friends. She was hanging out with her mom. She was talking to Regular. She was just being a teenage girl. What else was she supposed to be doing?

"Oh, come on. You've got a role on one of the biggest shows on TV and you're acting like nothing's happening," Kendall said with a roll of his eyes. "Riles was telling me about it." Katie smiled. "How come you didn't tell me anything?"

Katie shrugged. "I don't know." She didn't, honestly. There was more than enough reason for her to tell her brother, it was kinda cool. But things like that had never really interested her, had never really made her get to the point of freaking out like most other girls would have. She remembered hanging out with her friends at home, where one of them would get something they wanted, she would show as much enthusiasm as she could to be supportive but…could never get _that _enthusiastic.

It was just a TV show.

Just like her brother was just in a band…but that part really _was _cool.

"It's just not a big deal," she finally replied, knowing Kendall was waiting for a response. "There are still a lot of things that we need to figure out before I even start shooting. And that's not for another couple of weeks."

"But it's exciting." Kendall scrubbed his hands over his face, appearing more tired as the seconds passed. "You can't act like you don't care!"

"It's just…it's not something that I really freak out about, you know? My brother being in a successful band? _That's _exciting. My mom wanting to start her own business? That's exciting. Moving up in the ranks of being a world poker player? _That's_ exciting."

Katie grinned as Kendall laughed. He tilted his head back to rest against the back of the couch, folding his arms over his chest. Katie could see his eyes starting to flutter. She smiled softly. Poor Kendall, he loved the band so much, wanted things to work out so badly, he didn't know when to quit. As she watched, he slowly fell asleep, his snores coming through the speakers.

Reaching up her hand, Katie pulled the lid to her laptop closed and set her computer aside. Patrick looked up from where he sat next to her, face buried in his phone. "Everything going okay with them?"

"They haven't blown up the bus yet, if that's what you're wondering," Katie teased.

Patrick grinned back. "We only did that one. And besides, Ronan made us promise not to teach the guys how to do that so…" He trailed off when Katie gave him an indignant look. "Sorry, Kates, you're not getting that out of us, yeah?"

"What's the point of having a schemer as a boyfriend if he's not going to teach me anything?" Katie protested. She squeaked in surprise when he leaned in and gave her a peck on the lips. Then he reached up and grasped her cheek, pressing his thumb into the corner of her mouth, making her open her mouth so that he could wiggle his tongue inside on their next kiss. Katie's cheeks burned when he pulled back but she smiled widely.

"I can teach you that," he teased. Then he shrugged and backed away, saying, "But your mum would kill me if I tried."

"She wouldn't _kill _you," Katie said, pretending to think. She bobbed her head back and forth. "Pull you out by the ear maybe, but not kill you. At least Kendall's not here, you don't have to worry about _him." _She laughed when he rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, I wouldn't let him hurt you."

"No, you'd set up a fight and sell tickets for people to watch the show." Patrick rolled his eyes and started to move off the bed. Katie frowned, watching him. He had to go to work again. Not that she had any room to talk, once she started work on the show, she was going to be as busy as he was. _May as well spend as much time together as we can, I don't want to fight again. _Then Patrick stopped and pointed his chin toward her side. "Your phone's lighting up."

"Oh." Katie twisted around and picked up her phone. She knew she had messages from Regular without even having to look. She left her phone on silent so she and Patrick could hang out, but seeing how many notifications slid across her screen made her stomach squirm.

**Regular: **Are you there?

**Regular: **Hello?

**Regular: **I can see you're online

**Regular:** You haven't messaged me in days but when I need you you're not here

**Regular:** I've always been there for you

**Regular:** ?

She'd never seen Regular get so upset before. They'd always gotten along. What did she do wrong? No, they hadn't messaged each other recently, they'd both been busy. She'd told him that after they talked about how excited she was to get the part on the show. How excited _he _was that she got the part. Then a few days went in-between where they didn't talk. But to get _that _upset?

Katie quickly responded.

**Katie:** I'm here, what's going on?

**Regular:** Sure, now you care

**Katie**: *Rolls eyes* Don't be weird, dude

**Regular**: Now I'm weird? I'm just trying to talk to you, Katie and you've been blowing me off.

**Katie:** I haven't been blowing you off. I've been busy.

**Regular:** Uh-huh

**Regular:** Are you with your boyfriend?

Katie felt herself bristle, felt her cheeks enflame with annoyance. Now he was bringing Patrick into it when he already knew there was a good chance she was hanging out with him or Lizzie. Or even with her dad, as the times had recently shown.

Regular: You are, aren't you? Are you turning into one of those girls? Where you have to be around your boyfriend all the time? Where you can't be by yourself and you find your self-worth through how much you follow him around? I thought you were different than that.

**Katie:** I _am _different! I don't follow him around!

**Regular:** So what are you doing?

Katie paused for a fraction of a second.

**Katie:** I'm by myself

**Regular:** Really?

**Katie:** Really!

**Regular:** Liar, he's with you at the PalmWoods!

Katie swallowed hard, feeling her heart start to hammer harder and harder in her chest as the seconds passed. She tightened her grasp on her phone. How would he have known that they were both at the PalmWoods? How would he know they were together.

**Regular:** He's always with you at the PalmWoods

**Katie:** So? All our friends are here! And, again, he's my boyfriend.

**Regular:** He's a shitty boyfriend if he got mad at you talking to me. I'd be a better one for you, I wouldn't stop talking to you just because you were talking to someone else and tell you to stop talking to me.

**Katie**: He didn't tell me to stop talking to you. I've been busy

**Regular:** Doing what?

**Katie:** Stuff

**Regular:** Stuff like what?

**Katie:** Hanging out with my friends, talking to my mom, talking to my brother, going out with my boyfriend

**Regular:** So he's more important to you than me? Boyfriends shouldn't be more important than friends

**Katie:** Are you jealous?

**Regular:** Yes! You basically admitted you admit that you settle for me! I've been having so bad times lately, I've been sick and my mom and I have been fighting and you don't even care!

**Katie:** *rolls eyes* Poor baby

**Regular:** Are you making fun of me?

**Katie**: Yes

**Regular:** I could've used a nurse

**Katie:** In your dreams!

**Regular:** How'd you know?

**Regular:** What did you do with him? Your boyfriend?

**Katie:** Hang out

**Regular:** I mean, what did you _do_? Did you hug?

**Katie:** Yes

**Regular:** Did you kiss?

Katie hesitated for only a minute. It wasn't his business at all. But she was starting to become annoyed by how much he was pressing into her personal life. Like he had some sort of claim he was staking on her. And, it was sort of nice to know she was pissing him off so much when he was the one who had been driving her crazy lately.

**Katie:** Yes

**Regular:** Did he feel your tits?

**Regular:** Did he fuck you?

Katie turned off her phone and set it aside, letting out a loud huff. She knew she looked like her brother then, with her lower jaw jutting out and hazel eyes flashing. It seemed to be a Knight trait, she saw it in her mom, saw it in her dad, saw it in her brother. Could tell Patrick could see it in her for he immediately looked concerned.

"What? What's wrong?"

So Katie let out a low breath and explained to Patrick what'd been going on with Regular…but didn't tell him _everything. _He didn't need to know about the most recent messages, didn't need to freak out anymore than she knew he would. Just told him how Regular was starting to act mean.

Patrick lifted an eyebrow. "And you like talking to this bloke?"

"I did. Before he started to…I don't know, act weird. Before he started to demand my time."

"Katie, he's acting like he's your boyfriend."

"No, he's just mad that I haven't been there for him." Katie shook her head as quickly as she could, tried to deflect the guilt that settled in her gut. It said it right there...in the message she wouldn't show him. "He's a good friend of mine."

"Someone on the internet is a good friend of yours?" Patrick snorted. "He's not your friend, he's your fan. You don't know these people, you can be friendly, but unless you meet they're not actually part of your life." He shook his head. "Do you not remember the media training Kendall and the guys went through? This was a big part of it. You can be _friendly _but you shouldn't give all of yourself to people online, they'll take it and run with it and…" he trailed off. "I just want you to be safe."

"I _am _being safe! I'm not telling him things that people don't already know about me. He's just becoming demanding."

"Fans can do that." He shrugged. "And it's not fair. But you can't feed into that, Katie. It's not a real relationship, you have to keep yourself at a good degree of separation, yeah?"

"Yeah," Katie agreed.

She was starting to figure that out.

* * *

**A/N: **Chapters will get longer as the story comes to a close and starts to wind down. Thank you guys for sticking around with this one. I know it's been a while since I updated, but thank you all for being so patient with me! :)

**Cheers,**

**-Riles**


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